doll eyes - ? - not for the squeamish

[Kenshinchan]

That hair dryer trick sounds brilliant! I wonder if that's how AG replaces the eyes.

Is there any way you can measure the eyes you took out? I assume you'd want replacements of the same size.

If it works out, do share with us; I'm sure there's a lot of people who would love to do their own eye replacements!

[horsemom]

The doll hospital in Denver said that AG eyes are a special size and can't be ordered outside of AG. I had to send two dolls in to have them swap eyes because they couldn't just order a regular size.

I'd be very interested to find out if you find a supplier of eyes that fit AGs. Please keep us updated!

[jerseycow6]

I didn't mean to get anyone too excited: these eyes don't seem terribly promising (especially since they don't seem to be the right colors anyway), but I figured it might be worth a shot to test out on this doll that had originally come to me for cheap. I like taking things apart, so I figured this would be about my only chance to see what these dolls are made of without risking a huge loss. If they actually worked, I'm sure other people would have known by now, but I'd kind of like to try them out anyway. I've also finally gotten around to using oxy on my Anna's stained feet, too, so we'll see how that works out. Meanwhile, she's chilling on my windowsill, I have a really creepy-looking paperweight doll head on my desk, and I have a geosci field trip to the Johnstown Flood site tomorrow, so I'll see you all sometime after I get back and get a reasonable amount of schoolwork done.

[horsemom]

LOL- sounds like my place last week. I was doing body swaps on some Heidi Ott dolls and my husband remarked- "I don't really like any of the dolls, but I really don't like the headless ones. I mean, their bodies are just laying there." LOL

[pamiredo52]

I sent several to the AG Hospital and was delighted with the results and the GREAT service. They go above and beyond and I can not say enought GOOD things about the AG Hospital. You might want to know however that the older light blue eyes like Kirsten has are replaced with a medium blue. The new replacement eyes are just that, NEW.
A friend of mine says he fills the head with hot water to soften it up and then reaches inside to push the old eyes out. I found this messy and the hair got all messed up, not to mention I slightly burned my fingers.
I did find that IF you lay the doll in hot natural sunlight (save this for the summer if you live up north!) she will soften up naturally and the sunlight also evens out her skin tone (and removes ink and marker stains, lipstick stains, SUNLIGHT is the best on skin problems!). I placed one doll on the dashboard of my car on a hot summer day. Her head got super soft and I could easily reach up inside and pop out the old eyes. I used a GOTZ similar-to-the-AG doll for donor eyes. The Gotz dolls have the same eyes but bigger irises, slightly different colors. Now I feel guilty every time I look at my old Gotz doll "Tess" without eyes. I eventually found her some new eyes too, the guilt was just too much.
The best way is to send them to the AG hospital, and it is FREE!!! You also get a hospital gown, baloon and wrist band, AND my dolls all came back cleaned, hair brushed and a ribbon in their hair. It was like getting NEW dolls!!!! TWO of the dolls I sent were in such horrific condition that they sent me TWO BRAND SPANKING new replacements!!!!! I was shocked, thrilled, and as usual, I held the dolls up and did a little dance!!!
Love,
Paul David Wrightsel

[robin0850]

Being a cautious sort, I 'm a bit leery of popping the eyes out through the front--I would be afraid of stretching or warping the eye openings. I've always heard (and read) that eye replacement should be done through the back of the eye socket--which means cutting.
Going in through the back is a bit nerve-wracking--(there is a risk of cutting too much and ruining the face)--but if you want to preserve a PM doll, it may be worth it to replace a silver-eye oneself, rather than risk an unwanted replacement by the AG Hospital. Another major difficulty is finding AG eyes, which are few and far between.

The AG Hospital does excellent work, and many board members have told about their great experiences--but not everyone's experience has been entirely satisfactory. For myself, I couldn't say, since I'm too paranoid to send my dollies away at all, whatever the reason.

This is why I've learned to re-string and otherwise maintain my own girls at home, and offer my services to others on the board who may feel more comfy sending their dolls to a fellow board member. (Anyone interested may PM me for services and rates.)

[jerseycow6]

One of my girls has a very advanced case of dolly glaucoma (silver eye). I don't feel like sending her to AG to get her fixed, and I had one too many energy drinks today, so I got a bit impatient with her restoration process. So, I figured out that, after protecting her hair with a bandanna and sweatband, I could remove her eyes by taking a blow dryer to her face for about five minutes. I also found a site that sells sleep-eyes for dolls in various sizes. I don't know which size to get, though. Some places said just to measure the eye opening at it's largest points, but I wasn't sure if it was the same for dolls with sleep eyes as it is for dolls with fixed eyes. Can anyone help me with this or does anyone know what size eyes (in mm) I should use?

[kitandkat]

I agree with Paul about softening the head in sunlight if you wanted to even out the skin tone or remove the eyes. My mini Kit-Kat were in my car for awhile and eventually got very soft, so I brought them inside. They hardened back quickly and I didn't notice any damage.

[Kenshinchan]

I would still like to know HOW AG replaces the eyes. Do they cut through the back, or pop them out through the front? Can someone who has a doll back from AG and who's untied their doll's head let us know?

If AG takes them out through the front, then I'd think it's PROBABLY OK, as long as you are careful not to force them. (Of course, there's no guarantees; even AG admits there's a risk when replacing silver eye.)

Sunlight probably works, but I would warn that there are theories that silver eye develops in the first place because of heat or direct light. Sunlight, of course, would bring both of those things. If your doll already has silver eye and needs her eyes replaced, then there's no risk, but I wouldn't try it on a doll whose eyes are OK.

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ October 07, 2006 05:36 PM: Message edited by: Kenshinchan ]</font>

[agcollector293110]

What if you tried to find a really cheap fixer uper that has eyes without silver eye. Then they would be the correct size and possibly even premattel. I know fixer uppers can go for more than they are worth sometimes and this may not be worth it. Also then you could send in the fizer uper (depending on how bad of shape it is in) for a new head at the hospital. Then you would have two dolls in decent shape.