What is silver eye?

[lynet44]

What is silver eye and how does it happen? How do you fix it?

Thanks,
Lynet

[Sakurako]

Silver eye happens quite suddenly to older AGs from Pleasant Co. I haven't heard that it is a problem with the made in China dolls from AG. Based on earlier discussions (you can do a search on the Board for more information), it evidently occurs when the colored backing of the glass eye separates from the front of the eye, leaving just a silver colorless eye with the center pupil and the "whirligig" pattern around it. You can't prevent it. You can send a doll afflicted by it to the AG Doll hospital and they will replace the head of the doll at no cost except for shipping. The problem is that they sometimes replace the pre-Mattel made in Germany doll's head with the current made in China head, which alters the doll's appearance radically from my point of view. I have successfully insisted that only the doll's eyes be replaced but the new eyes are larger than the original ones. Gina (AGT19 with gray eyes) has silver eye in one eye and I masked it by buying her a gray-colored hard contact lens from a local optician. I glued the lens to her bad eye with clear fingernail polish. This is tricky and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, but Gina shares my phobia about being sent to a hospital!

[horsemom]

My experience has been that silver eye starts as a silvering/lightening of the area around the outer edge of the iris or, in Kirsten's case, it was between the darker blue swirls in her iris and then progresses until the entire eye is a silver color. I have no idea what causes it. It's happened to my PM Addys (one German 1986, one 1993) and a Mattel Kirsten, but not to my PM German Felicity, Kirsten, or Samantha. ??? I really hope it never happens to Lissie or Samantha, since their eye colors are really different now. The only thing I know to do is send them into the doll hospital and they'll replace their eyes for free. But sometimes they replace the whole head, so you have to specify if you want only the eyes replaced.

I wish I knew what caused it. All my dolls are kept in the same way and played with. I think it might just be an inherent defect in some of the glass eyes that shows up over time.

[Sakurako]

The first doll I had who came down with this problem was a 1995 AGT (blonde with gray eyes). When I called customer service about it, I was told that it only happened to dolls made around 1995 with gray eyes -- like Molly and the AGTs. This led me to believe that it was a defect in gray eyes of a certain period. Since I've been on this Board, I know this isn't true. Plus my first (1995) oriental AGT had it happen last summer and she has black eyes. And a very early Samantha (maybe 1989 - 1990?) I bought from ebay has the color in both her eyes changing so instead of brown, they've faded to hazel. Clearly the defect isn't limited to a certain production cycle or eye color!