The Traitors star Livi Deane on losing her eye: "I feel more confident without my prosthetic"
The model and beautician lost her eye to a rare form of cancer when she was 14 years old
The Traitors UK star Livi Deane recalls looking in the mirror at age 14 and thinking “I hate myself. I literally hate how I look.”
Retinoblastoma - a rare form of cancer found in children - had just claimed her right eye. She was the oldest person ever to be diagnosed with it.
Despite being promised that she would “still look beautiful,” Deane felt like no one would ever understand how she felt. She had been through years of chemotherapy, lost her hair, and then had to have her right eye removed, just as she was becoming a teenager.
It was the start of a journey that led to her becoming an influencer and model, and appearing on series 3 of The Traitors in the UK.
Following her surgery, Deane was sent to have a prosthetic eye made to match her left eye. “I kind of thought I’d have this big hole in my head, I never thought of a prosthetic eye,” the now 27-year-old tells The Female Lead.
Initially, she was disappointed. “It was nothing like a real eye. It didn't move. It was bigger. It was almost bulging out of my socket,” she says.
Deane was referred to a specialist at Moorfields Eye Hospital, who sat with her for hours to craft a prosthetic that she was happy with. “It looked amazing. It moved a little bit. I mean, I still get a lazy eye, but it does move a little bit. And I feel it matches really well.”
But years later, Deane now says she prefers not to wear it, even modelling for Vogue and Primark wearing just her conformer - the name for a clear or painted plastic shell that holds the shape of an eye socket.
"I love the fact I don't get a lazy eye," she says. "I can just look around freely, and it feels comfortable."
The Traitors star now loves how she looks without her prosthetic, comparing removing her eye at the end of the day to taking off her bra. “I would love to just live like this,” she says. “And maybe one day I will. I'll just decide to take out my prosthetic eye and leave it out.”
“I never, ever dreamt that I would be a model. Because I just thought it was never going to be possible.”
Livi Deane
Deane told The Female Lead how her first boyfriend helped her find the confidence to share photos of herself wearing just her conformer.
"He asked me if he could see me without my prosthetic,” she recalls. Nervously, she agreed and removed her eye. “No one had ever seen me like this.” To her surprise, her boyfriend loved it, saying: “I think it’s amazing, let me take a picture of you.“
That picture ended up being the first she ever shared on social media, and it went viral.
“That was it. Every night I took it out… he made me feel comfortable in my own skin, which was really nice because it was something I had shied away from.”
The response was overwhelming. She got messages from people all over the world, many sharing their own stories of living with a prosthetic eye. “There were so many amazing people reaching out,” she says. “I organised a meet-up where people came from all over the UK, and some of them even took out their prosthetics for the first time. It was such a powerful and empowering experience for everyone.”
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Deane continued to share updates about life with a prosthetic eye on her social media, catching the attention of Katie Piper, who invited her onto her Extraordinary People podcast.
She was signed by Zebedee Talent and has since modelled for Vogue Portugal, Primark and Apple. In 2024 she wrote her first book, ‘My new normal.’
“To think to think of little Liv at age 12, about to have my eye removed… And then living with a prosthetic eye. I never, ever dreamt that I would be a model.”
Seeing with a prosthetic eye is not like people might imagine, Deane tells The Female Lead. “I can see full vision, but it’s like there’s a cutoff from about three-quarters of the way around.”
Deane hopes that her openness about her prosthetic eye, and the ease with which she removes and replaces it, will help others feel more confident. She also hopes to raise awareness for retinoblastoma and other eye conditions.