A facial prosthetic or facial prosthesis is an artificial device used to change or adapt the outward appearance of a person's face or head.
When used in the
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
,
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
or
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
industry, facial
prosthetic makeup
Prosthetic makeup also called special make-up effects and FX prosthesis) is the process of using prosthetic sculpting, molding and casting techniques to create advanced cosmetic effects. Prosthetic makeup goes back to the beginning of film makin ...
alters a person's normal face into something extraordinary. Facial
prosthetic
In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...
s can be made from a wide range of materials - including
gelatin
Gelatin or gelatine (from la, gelatus meaning "stiff" or "frozen") is a translucent, colorless, flavorless food ingredient, commonly derived from collagen taken from animal body parts. It is brittle when dry and rubbery when moist. It may also ...
,
foam latex
Foam latex or latex foam rubber is a lightweight form of latex containing bubbles known as cells, created from liquid latex. The foam is generally created though the Dunlop or Talalay process in which a liquid latex is foamed and then cured in a m ...
,
silicone
A silicone or polysiloxane is a polymer made up of siloxane (−R2Si−O−SiR2−, where R = organic group). They are typically colorless oils or rubber-like substances. Silicones are used in sealants, adhesives, lubricants, medicine, cooking ...
, and cold foam. Effects can be as subtle as altering the curve of a cheek or nose, or making someone appear older or younger than they are. A facial prosthesis can also transform an actor into any creature, such as
legendary creature
A legendary creature (also mythical or mythological creature) is a type of fictional entity, typically a hybrid, that has not been proven and that is described in folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses ...
s,
animal
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...
s and others.
To apply facial prosthetics, Pros-Aide, Beta Bond, Medical Adhesive or Liquid Latex is generally used. Pros-Aide is a water-based adhesive that has been the "industry standard" for over 30 years. It's completely waterproof and is formulated for use with sensitive skin. It is easily removed with Pros-Aide Remover. BetaBond is growing in popularity among Hollywood artists who say it's easier to remove. Medical Adhesive has the advantage that it's specifically designed not to cause allergies or skin irritation. Liquid Latex can only be used for a few hours, but can be used to create realistic blends from skin to prosthetics.
After application,
cosmetics
Cosmetics are constituted mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources, or synthetically created ones. Cosmetics have various purposes. Those designed for personal care and skin care can be used to cleanse or protect ...
and/or paint is used to color the prosthetics and skin the desired colors, and achieve a realistic transition from skin to prosthetic. This can be done by the wearer, but is often done by a separate, trained artist.
At the end of its use, some prosthetics can be removed simply by being pulled off. Others need special solvents to help remove the prosthetics, such as Pros-Aide Remover (water based and completely safe) for Pros-Aide, Beta Solv for Beta Bond, and medical
adhesive remover
Adhesive remover is a substance intended to break down and remove glue and its remnants from surfaces.
Description
Adhesive removers are intended to break down glue so that it can be removed from surfaces easily. Formulations may be designed t ...
for medical adhesive.
Prosthetic make-up is becoming increasingly popular for everyday use. This kind of make-up is used by people who wish to significantly alter their features.
History of Facial Prosthetic
The Emergence in Ancient History
It began not after antiquity where the face was worn with artificial parts despite the lack of proof in the theory. It has been found that
archaeologists
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
stumbled upon an
artefact that was false inside a skull’s left eye socket in
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
that goes way back around 3000-2900 B.C. Traces of thread were seen on the eye socket. When the person of the head skull died, the false eye was inserted. Gold masks were found on
mummies
A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay furth ...
in
Ancient Egypt tombs
A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...
around 2500 B.C., cosmetic
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
and
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
coins were present. The revelation of these findings are the start of the knowledge of the skill of facial prosthetics and in the ancient times focused on the social priority of the face. Body parts such as noses, ears and hands were a way as punishment for adultery in Ancient India. In the
Vedic era
The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (ca. 1300–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, betwe ...
, a well-known disquisition on the Indian treatments named The
Sushruta Samhita
The ''Sushruta Samhita'' (सुश्रुतसंहिता, IAST: ''Suśrutasaṃhitā'', literally "Suśruta's Compendium") is an ancient Sanskrit text on medicine and surgery, and one of the most important such treatises on this subj ...
, had done a report of the nasal pyramid with a cutaneous flap had been taken from the frontal region which shows signs of surgical reconstruction. The luck of it succeeding was not as high compared to these days. Hence, showing theories on prosthetic reconstructions attempts in history that are possibly not reported.
In 1810 - 1750 B.C.
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
, it was found that punitive mutilations by the
King Hammurabi
Hammurabi (Akkadian: ; ) was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from to BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered Elam and the city-states ...
were done despite his medical and morality being recognised. The people that had
mutilated
Mutilation or maiming (from the Latin: ''mutilus'') refers to severe damage to the body that has a ruinous effect on an individual's quality of life. It can also refer to alterations that render something inferior, ugly, dysfunctional, or imper ...
others had been retaliated by punishment which had restored lost parts which encouraged a few attempts at surgical
grafting
Grafting or graftage is a horticultural technique whereby tissues of plants are joined so as to continue their growth together. The upper part of the combined plant is called the scion () while the lower part is called the rootstock. The succ ...
. There was barely any mention of facial prosthesis in the writings of the
Greco-Roman Period
The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and countries that culturally—and so historically—were dir ...
. Long bone fracture reductions and restraints were more interesting to
Hippocrates
Hippocrates of Kos (; grc-gre, Ἱπποκράτης ὁ Κῷος, Hippokrátēs ho Kôios; ), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician of the classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of ...
, Gallen and Celse than the treatment in maxillofacial defects.
Facial Prostheses of the Kings in Post-Classical History
The
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
in
the Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
believed that an individual would not be able to have been an
Emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
also known as a ‘Rhinokopia’ if they had a severed nose. An order by Leonce was made to mutilate a nose belonging to the
Emperor Justinian
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized '' renova ...
(482 - 565). History was made when
Otton III (980 - 1002) who was the Emperor of the
Holy Empire visited in 1000 A.D. to the tomb of
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...
at
Aix-La-Chapelle
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. A tooth of Charlemagne was removed by Otton as a
relic
In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...
and a gold plate became a replacement to a piece of the
cadaver
A cadaver or corpse is a dead human body that is used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue to repair a defect in a living human being. Stud ...
’s broken nose.
During that time as well,
ivory
Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals is ...
made facial prostheses were described by
Abulcasis
Abū al-Qāsim Khalaf ibn al-'Abbās al-Zahrāwī al-Ansari ( ar, أبو القاسم خلف بن العباس الزهراوي; 936–1013), popularly known as al-Zahrawi (), Latinised as Albucasis (from Arabic ''Abū al-Qāsim''), was ...
(936 - 1013).
The Birth of Maxillofacial Prosthetics in Modern History (Early Modern Period)
Ambroise Paré
Ambroise Paré (c. 1510 – 20 December 1590) was a French barber surgeon who served in that role for kings Henry II, Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III. He is considered one of the fathers of surgery and modern forensic pathology and a p ...
(1510 - 1590) founded
maxillofacial prosthetics who had the clinical knowledge tinged with medicine in the military which gave the first maxillofacial prosthesis with surgical anchorage. After three years had passed using human dissections to get educated on
human anatomy
The human body is the structure of a human being. It is composed of many different types of cells that together create tissues and subsequently organ systems. They ensure homeostasis and the viability of the human body.
It comprises a he ...
, despite being previously known from the biggest hospital in the kingdom of France, the
Hôtel-Dieu In French-speaking countries, a hôtel-Dieu ( en, hostel of God) was originally a hospital for the poor and needy, run by the Catholic Church. Nowadays these buildings or institutions have either kept their function as a hospital, the one in Paris b ...
in Paris, he made the decision to relocate to
Vitré to obtain knowledge of surgery from a
barber
A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave men's and boys' hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a "barbershop" or a "barber's". Barbershops are also places of social interaction and publi ...
. He proceeded to practice in heavy mutilations as a
military surgeon
''Military Medicine'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering all aspects of medicine in military settings. It is published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States. It was est ...
prior to being assigned as “Surgeon of The King” of France (for
Henri II and
Charles IX).
Materials and Techniques for Facial Prosthesis in Modern History (Late Modern Period)
In the
19th Century
The 19th (nineteenth) century began on 1 January 1801 ( MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 ( MCM). The 19th century was the ninth century of the 2nd millennium.
The 19th century was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was abolis ...
throughout the time of the industrial revolution, appearance was improved a great deal by recently developed materials accessible for facial prostheses. Silver and gold were exchanged with lighter materials as they gave discomfort to the face and were stiff. To mask
disfigurement
Disfigurement is the state of having one's appearance deeply and persistently harmed medically, such as from a disease, birth defect, or wound. General societal attitudes towards disfigurement have varied greatly across cultures and over time, ...
, epitheses were used as it was practical and more successful therapeutics. In fact, in 1851,
sulphur
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
was incorporated into
rubber
Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...
which made Goodyear acquire
vulcanite
Vulcanite is a rare copper telluride mineral. The mineral has a metallic luster, and has a green or bronze-yellow tint. It has a hardness between 1 and 2 on the Mohs scale (between talc and gypsum). Its crystal structure is orthorhombic.
Vulcanit ...
. It turned out to be a vital component of conventional dental prosthesis and facial prosthesis. A trouble-free and colourable creation being able to be used in both hard and soft structures.
The application of vulcanite for facial prostheses was also mentioned by Norman Kingsley (1829 - 1931) and Apoléoni Preterre (1821-1893) in 1864 and 1866, respectively. In 1879, celluloid was used by Kingsley. Maxillofacial prosthetics were given a new dimension by mixing maxillofacial surgery with dental prosthetics by a French physician and dentist,
Claude Martin
Major-General Claude Martin (5 January 1735 – 13 September 1800) was a French army officer who served in the French and later British East India companies in colonial India. Martin rose to the rank of major-general in the British East India C ...
(1843 - 1911) by the end of the 19th century. “Surgical” and “
prosthesis
In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...
” were terms used in conjunction with each other by Martin for the first time in De la prothèse immédiate à la résection des maxillaires. He had explained that in giving fulfilling skin simulation, the use of translucent ceramics for nasal prosthesis after amputation is the key.
Problems
Being exposed to high temperatures can cause problems when wearing prosthetics. Glues that were sturdy at normal temperatures can become less effective under heat. This could lead to prosthetics falling apart or peeling from the skin.
Higher temperatures can cause sweating which can also affect the durability of the prosthetics. The negative effects of sweating can be prevented by cleaning the skin well with 99% alcohol before applying the adhesive. Another way to ensure that the facial prosthetics stay on once they have been applied is to treat the skin with an anti-perspirant beforehand.
See also
*
Angellift
Angellift is the registered trade name of a noninvasive, removable perioral implant or prosthetic marketed by Medical Matrix, LLC used to lift and tighten the lower facial dermis. Angellift came about when a California surgeon wanted to provide ...
*
Lifecasting
Lifecasting is the process of creating a three-dimensional copy of a living human body, through the use of molding and casting techniques.Prosthesis
In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...
*
Prosthetic makeup
Prosthetic makeup also called special make-up effects and FX prosthesis) is the process of using prosthetic sculpting, molding and casting techniques to create advanced cosmetic effects. Prosthetic makeup goes back to the beginning of film makin ...
References
Cosmetics
Prosthetics
Prosthetic
In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...
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