Two (Almost) Forgotten Soldiers: The Story of Ludwig...

Journal of Ophthalmic Prosthetics 37

Michael O. HughesArtificial Eye ClinicVienna, Virginia

Two (Almost) ForgottenSoldiers: The Story of LudwigHussar and Leon Schlossberg

THE JOURNEY OF LUDWIG HUSSAR

The Appalachian Mountains is a general name for the numerous ranges thatrun from the Gulf Coast in Alabama through the eastern portion of NorthAmerica. In the United States, the word Appalachian is synonymous forrural living and isolation. Yet, in the heart of this rugged coal mining region,Ludwig Hussar settled in the late 1930s to hone his craft. He was the firsttrue Ocularist who lived and practiced ocularistry in the state of WestVirginia. (Figure 1 and 2)

Ludwig Karl Hussar was born March 16, 1905, in a small village inHungary. He was the third child born to Anna (Litchner) and Karl Hussar,and spent his adolescence in Yugoslavia and later served in the YugoslavianArmy.

After his military service, Ludwig continued his education and becamea dentist, practicing dentistry in the city of Belgrade. In the summer of1939, Ludwig elected to visit his uncle who lived in Mt. Hope, WestVirginia. The short visit turned into a permanent stay. With his county hav-ing political problems and threats from Germany, Ludwig felt that therewere better opportunities in the United States than back in his homeland.While still an immigrant and using English as a second language, Ludwigenlisted in the U.S. Army on September 8, 1942. While serving in theArmy, Ludwig became a U.S. citizen.

After basic training, Ludwig used his knowledge and skills as a dentistand worked primarily as a dental technician at the 74th General Army

ABSTRACT: World War II ended nearly six decades ago, yet the influ-ence and changes as a direct of the grisly conflict can still be felt today.Despite great devastation and tragedy, there were many positive medicalinnovations created to assist in the care of the wounded. When history isnoted regarding the origins of contemporary ocular prosthetics, there isusually significant mention of WWII and the influence it had on theprofession of ocularistry.

For this article, the author wishes to introduce two men, whodiligently served their country during WWII while working with thoseinjured in combat. Ludwig K. Hussur and Leon Schlossberg came fromtwo different backgrounds and, following the war, went on to separate,meaningful careers. Their contributions to ocularisty typify the obscure,isolated and exceptionally rewarding work Ocularists perform.

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Journal of Ophthalmic Prosthetics

Hospital outside London. It was in this particular hos-pital that Ludwig Hussar was exposed to the new evolv-ing plastic techniques to the military’s dental personnel.During his military service, Ludwig also utilized hiscommand of five languages while working with RadioFree Europe. He served in the Army from 1942 to1945, obtaining the rank of E-technician, 3rd grade.Ludwig was awarded the Good Conduct Medal (April1944) and the European-African-Middle EasternService Ribbon.

With the completion of his U.S. military service,Ludwig returned to West Virginia. Finding it difficult toconvert his European dental skills to the U.S. require-ments, Ludwig concentrated on the ocular prostheticstraining he received in the Army.

West Virginia can be a difficult place to work as ahealth care professional; this was especially true duringthe 1940s. Oak Hill, West Virginia, was particularlychallenging. Situated 10 miles north of Beckley, OakHill is secluded in the foothills of the deep mining coalregion. Prior to Ludwig’s arrival, West Virginia neverhad any tradition of custom ocular prosthetic work, inplastic or glass. Residents from this region had to travelto larger cities in nearby states or settle for theinferior

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FIGURE 1 Ludwig K. Hussar

FIGURE 2 Map of West Virginia

Almost Forgotten Soldiers


stock eyes being dispensed. An individual makingcustom eyes was a welcome service to this unglam-ourous area.

Ludwig Hussar was a member of the AmericanSociety of Ocularists (ASO), joining the society in1975. Ludwig attended numerous ASO conferences,although he worked in relative obscurity. This wasdue in part to the isolation of West Virginia, and thefact that Ludwig felt more comfortable working in hiscraft. Fabricating custom prostheses from his homeoffice, Ludwig practiced ocularistry for almost 50years. With European craftsmanship, he carefullymolded, hand painted and impression-fit prostheticeyes. It was not uncommon for Ludwig to spend daysworking on a single individual, particularly on themore complex orbital prostheses for the exenteratedsocket. He also maintained a small satellite office inJohnson City, Tennessee.

It is Ludwig Hussar’s perseverance, dedicationand obscurity that has placed him in a position ofinterest. He may represent one of the purest forms ofocularistry, truly helping individuals without regardto monetary rewards or public adulation. Ludwig isone of the lesser-known members of the small frater-nity of early American Ocularists who helped devel-ope and mold the profession to the standards that areexpected today. Ludwig Hussar died in 1992 at theage of 87. He completed his life’s journey just like heperformed his life’s work, quietly and with dignity.

LEON SCHLOSSBERG, THE ANATOMIST

Leon Schlossberg (1914-1999) was born inBaltimore, Maryland. He attended Baltimore CityCollege and studied art at the Maryland Institute ofArt. Leon also studied with Max Brodel in theMedical Illustration (Arts as Applied to Medicine)Department at Johns Hopkins Medical School.Brodel is considered the father of modern medicalillustration. After completing basic training, Leonbecame the Navy’s first medical illustrator when hewas stationed at Bethesda Naval Hospital. (Figure 3)

It was while he was employed with the Navy’sGeneral Medical Department that the DentalDepartment asked for his artistic assistance in work-ing with prosthetics.

In 1944, the first of several articles was writtenregarding the work of Leon and Dr. Phelps Murphy.

In April, 1997, Leon described his influential illustra-tion (Figure 4) and his article, Eye Replacement byAcrylic Maxillofacial Prostheses:

“The original illustration that accom-panies this historical review of the devel-opment of the Navy artificial eye was firstused in the December 1944 issue of theNaval Medical Bulletin.

The development of the artificial eyebegan at the Naval Medical Center inBethesda, Maryland about 1942. PhelpsMurphy, D.D.S. of the Naval DentalSchool had been doing some experimentson personnel in the direction of injectingthe eye socket with a flexible mold mate-rial dentists used in their work and thentransferred the flexible mold into a rigidpositive that they anticipated would bethe basis onto which an artist would paintthe iris and sclera. Upon realizing that thepalpebra fissure opening was larger thanthe good eye, further work would have tobe done to make the prostheses accept-able. It was at this point the dental schoolrealized they needed help possibly fromthe Medical Department to which I wasattached.

In consultation with one patient I real-

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FIGURE 3 Lt. Leon Schlossberg, USN, Bethesda, MD,1944

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FIGURE 4 Illustration from USN Medical Bulletin, 1944, by Leon Schlossberg.



ized that the plastic blank was too large. Iasked that the blank be reduced in size totwenty-two millimeters, the size of ahuman eye. This maneuver produced asatisfactory result. Collaboration contin-ued utilizing my knowledge of theanatomical-artistic characteristics of theeye.

The art captions of the accompany his-torical illustration will suffice to completethe story of the development of the Navyplastic eye.”

Throughout the essay, Dr. Murphy and Leon givedetailed information regarding the process of fabri-cating artificial eyes, that includes painting the iris onwatercolor paper. This was unique. The cornerstoneof this landmark article is built around Leon’s beauti-ful and very conceptional illustration. Keep in mind,very little printed (or even illustrated) regarding thetightly kept “secrets” or ocular prosthetics in the1940s. In describing Leon’s illustration, certifiedmedical illustrator Craig Luce notes:

“For the purpose of this illustration,Leon’s treatment is accurate, sculptureand efficient. Leon’s genius is in the clearteaching and incredible rendering ofdetailed anatomy. A true student of themaster (Max Brodel).”

Having never before seen this particular illustra-tion by Mr. Schlossberg, colleague and friend RaniceW. Crosby, Associate Professor and Director Emeritaof the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicineoffered the following observations:

“All elements of creative invention,authority, and order in presenting factsand capturing realism with subtle aesthet-ic appeal are in this particular illustration.

The new ocular prostheses design ispresented with its various surfaces and itsessential projecting element clearlylabeled. Schlossberg depicts the new pros-thesis in place creating a successfulrestoration. In contrast, he reminds us ina comparison figure that the commonlyused prostheses leaves the upper liddeeply sunken, a totally unsuccessfulresult.

Not only an illustrator and prosthetic

designer, Schlossberg shows a frontal andlateral view of the successful ocular pros-theses with the varying curvatures insur-ing light reflection.”

One doesn’t have to look long to conclude that,visually, Leon Schlossberg’s article and illustrationinfluenced Lee Allen’s well respected article on theModified Impression Technique that was publishedmore than twenty-five years later. Lee Allen may beconsidered the father of modern ocularists. Lee Allenand Leon Schlossberg knew each other, and both wereprominent illustrators at two respected medicalschools; the University of Iowa and John HopkinsUniversity. Lee uses Leon’s article in his noted refer-ences, plus the fact that both Lee Allen and LeonSchlossberg were presidents of the American MedicalIllustrators in 1956 and 1955, respectively. It is not astretch to say that the Navy’s work from 1944 on hada direct influence on the way many people fabricateprostheses today.

The success and publicity of Leons work in pros-thetics led to the development of a ProstheticAppliance Board created by the Navy Bureau ofMedicine and Surgery. Leon sat on the board, thatworked on other prosthetic devices. The board alsotrained other individuals who would be dispatched toother naval bases.

After his military career, Leon returned toBaltimore, where he continued his relationship withJohns Hopkins for over 50 years. He was an activecharter member to the American Medical Illustrators(AMI), and in 1990 he was presented with the AMI’shighest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award.(Figure 5)

In 1994, Leon Schlossberg was awarded an hon-orary doctoral degree from Johns Hopkins for his life-time contribution to the university. After leavingBethesda Naval Hospital, Leon never again worked inor illustrated prosthetics. In fact, concentrating oncardiology and urology, he did limited illustrationswith ophthalmology, with the exceptions of his anato-my charts and the Anatomy of the Eye series with Dr.Nicholas Iliff from the book, The Johns HopkinsAtlas of Human Functional Anatomy. Leon became aworld-renowned medical artist and illustrated thou-sands of commissions. Along with his doctoral degree,Leon received countless awards for his gifted artistrybefore he passed away in December, 1999.

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CONCLUSION

It is interesting to speculate what Leon would havedone if he had continued on the ocular prostheticpath, like so many serviceman who were introducedand trained by the military to fashion artificial eyes.One could also speculate on Ludwig Hussar, and hisfuture had he stayed in war-torn Europe. Had he con-tinued working with prosthetics, would LeonSchlossberg’s incredible artistic skills transferred intobeautiful ocular prosthetics, like his colleague, LeeAllen? Would Ludwig Hussar have continued to prac-tice dentistry if he had been given the permission inthe United States? These are answers we’ll never know.We also will never know the names of all the crafts-men, artists and technicians who somehow con-tributed to a new idea or shared a technique thathelped evolve the modern standards of ocularistry.

Even 50 years after Leon Schlossberg worked onNavy servicemen, he felt that ocular prosthetics was

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FIGURE 5 Illustration from 1969 for which Leon worked on JohnsHopkins’ first heart transplant

the most meaningful work he had ever created. For allof us affiliated one way or another with ocularistry,we are truly privileged to be in the profession thatimpacts a person’s life and make a difference in thisworld.

REFERENCES

1. Max Brodel. The Man Who Put Art Into Medicine.Ranice W. Crosby and John Cody, Springer-Verlag,New York, 1991.

2. Surgical Anatomy of the Orbit. Barry M. Zide andGlenn W. Jelks, illustrations by Craig Luce. RavenPress, New York, 1985.

3. U.S. Naval Medical Bulletin. Eye Replacement byAcrylic Maxillofacial Prostheses. Phelps J. Murphy,Lieutenant Commander (DC) U.S. Naval Reserveand Leon Schossberg, Lieutenant H-V (S) U.S.Naval Reserve. Volume 43, No. 6, December1944; 1085-1099.



4. The Anatomical Products Company, Skokie,Illinois. Charts and Posters, The Johns HopkinsAnatomy Chart Series.

5. Modified impression method of artificial eye fit-ting. L. Allen and H.E. Webster. American Journalof Ophthalmology, 1969, 67: 189-218.

6. Military Surgeon: Eye Replacement by AcrylicMaxillofacial Prostheses. Lieutenant CommanderPhelps J. Murphy, D.D., U.S.N.R. and LeonSchlossberg, H-V(S), U.S.N.R. 1945, 96: 469-478.

7. The Johns Hopkins Atlas of Human FunctionalAnatomy. John Hopkins University Press, 1972.

8. Personal interview/correspondence with LeonSchlossberg, Johns Hopkins, Art as Applied toMedicine. Baltimore, Maryland. April 1997 until1999.

9. The Journal of Biocommunication (JBC). LeonSchlossberg: A Career in Retrospect. Anne R.Altermus, M.A. Volume 18, No. 3, 1991: 7-19.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special thanks to Juanita Hussar and Jean Schlossbergfor their assistance with the accuracy of the article,and Craig Luce for his illustration and technicalknowledge regarding ocular anatomy. Also thanks aredue to Juan Garcia, Ranice Crosby, and the staff ofArt as Applied to Medicine at Johns HopkinsUniversity for their help with the photographs andillustrations.

CORRESPONDENCE TO:

Michael O. HughesArtificial Eye Clinic307 Maple Avenue WestSuite BVienna, VA 22180-4307

e-mail: [email protected]

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