The hair on your head, feathers of a bird, scutes of a turtle shell, scales of a lizard, and lens of an eye. What do these structures all have in common? Despite striking differences in appearance and function, they all began as placodes. That is, localized thickenings of the epithelium that give rise to two main groups of derivative structures: cranial placodes (e.g. lens, lateral line, trigeminal ganglion) and cutaneous placodes (e.g. scales, feathers, hair). These regions of thickened epithelium are hubs of communication between the epithelium and mesenchyme that induce of a wide range of specialized neurogenic and epithelial appendages. They are sites of coordinated changes in cell proliferation, differentiation, shape, and movement. They have also been studied in terms of inductive signaling networks (e.g. Wnt/β-catenin, FGF, BMP, Hh, Eda/Edar), epithelial patterning mechanisms (e.g. lateral inhibition), and extracellular matrix regulation (including matrix metalloproteinases). Like other cutaneous placodes, scleral ossicle bones begin with a placode stage. In the conjunctiva of the eye, thickening of the epithelium forms an elongated papilla that instructs skeletogenic condensations to form in the underlying mesenchyme, which ultimately give rise to scleral ossicle bones. Such bones form intramembranously in the eyes of several vertebrate groups. In the chicken (Gallus gallus) eye, the ability to knock out one or more of these placodes via chemical treatment presents a unique opportunity to learn more about placode patterning. Investigating early induction of scleral ossicles can reveal more about this curious system of bones, as well as the versatility that placodes harness to produce such a wealth of epithelial derivatives.