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Prosthetics is a widely used term, but what exactly does it refer to? To follow are some basic definitions of words you will find throughout this site: ‘Prosthetics’ is the branch of medicine that deals with the production and use of artificial human body parts. The parts can be purely cosmetic or a combination of cosmetic and functional, and are used to restore damaged or missing parts of the body. The word itself is derived from Greek pros which when translated literally mean: the systematic pursuit of putting one thing (an artificial device) in addition to something else (the human body). A ‘Prosthesis’ is the term used for a prosthetic piece i.e. the artificial body part that will replace or enhance the body ‘Medical Prostheses’ (prosthetic pieces) are typically used to replace parts lost by injury (traumatic), malignant disease (i.e. cancer) or missing from birth (congenital). They are also used to supplement defective parts and for trans gender applications. A ‘Prosthetist’ is a practitioner who makes prosthetics ‘Prosthetic Rehabilitation’ is the term for the medical discipline in which we work ‘Maxillofacial Prosthetics’ is a specialised area within prosthetic rehabilitation that deals specifically with the head and neck areas |
The Process
Depending on the piece being created, prostheses can be made in a number of different medically approved materials, the majority of which are durable silicones.
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For all bespoke pieces, an impression of the part of the body the piece will be made to fit is taken. This is quick and painless, and is done in alginates or silicones covered with plaster bandage. From this impression a positive cast is made to work with. In the image on the right, Rob Whitehead can be seen removing the cast from a patient’s arm. |
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In the image on the left, Neill Gorton cleans up a positive face cast. Please note; it is very unusual for any piece to require a full face or head cast. If this should be the case however and you feel uncomfortable with the prospect, our highly experienced practitioners have advanced methods of taking the impression which avoid full coverage of the face at any one time. The colouring is achieved by a mixture of techniques including intrinsically colouring the materials, ‘flocking’ which means adding tiny fibres to the silicone to create a realistic visual texture and ‘pointillism’- this technique involves painting using huge amounts of tiny individual dots. |
The reason for this is that when looking at them, the eye combines the dots to form a much clearer and thus more realistic look than if the colours were physically mixed and painted on.
Hyper-realistic effects are created with meticulous hand painting, as shown on this prosthetic thumb:
