Contributions from medicine to the prosthetics industry

 

‘Many developments regarding the materials used in the fabrication and colouring of the makeup effects appliances as well as the adhesives used to hold them in place have come from the field of anaplastology: the art and science of restoring human anatomy by artificial means.’ (Debreceni, 2013, p 14)

 

It is the same principal that the medical prostheses and make-up artist’ prosthetic creations are both a way of changing someone’s appearance whether that’s for confidence of someone with out a limb or for an actor. Characteristic for both uses are that they must not infere with their everyday life/performance or become a burden, it must be functional.

 

Materials.

 

Materials used in making antiplastic prosthesis are ultralight weight silicone and polyurethane. With the developments of silicone there are now ways of layering different types of silicone, which as a whole create a replica of the fatty, soft tissue, and then the skin layer.

 

For example- Silicone gel-filled appliances incorporate a tough elastimeric encapsulator- usually another silicone used as an outer skin.. (Debreceni,2013 , p15)

 

However as a makeup artist we may use alternate materials, depending on what effect we want to achieve, such as foam latex and gelatine.

 

Making the Prosthesis/Prosthetics.

 

When a prosthesis is made facial proportions, direction of the skin, texture and colour of the skin will all be taken into consideration to produce to the most realist piece possible and to make it look lifelike. ‘This is no different from what a spcial makeup effects artist does. The steps in the creation of appliances are virtually identical. (Debreceni, 2013, p16)

 

‘Just as with prosthetic appliances made for use on stage or seen, even a well-made anaplastic prosthesis are not living tissue, there are some obvious limitations: An anaplastic prosthesis might not restore normal movement, it will not blush or tan, and it must be removed for cleaning. (Debreceni, 2013 , p15)