rh24
10 Years Experience
Naples, FL
Female, 34
I am also referred to as an Anaplastologist or Maxillofacial Prosthetist. I make prosthetic facial anatomy for people who need it due to congenital birth defects, trauma (burns, accidents, etc), and cancer. Essentially, I'm an artist who works in medicine. Ask me anything!
Yes. Statistically, people of Hispanic descent have the highest chance of being born with a microtia - a small, deformed ear. Those are actually the majority of patients that I see, being that I work in a hospital in a predominantly Hispanic area.
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Yes! The ears are made with medical grade silicone, so it's soft and pliable. Not only can they wear earrings, they can "pierce" their own ears wherever they like. Cool, huh?
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They often don't stay intact in harsh weather conditions because the prostheses are very delicate. Hard rain would ruin it over time. If the prosthesis is very secure, the wind won't affect it. Coincidentally....combine hard rain and strong winds, and what do you get? A hurricane. I had a patient who lives in the Dominican Republic who got caught in a hurricane, swam through it to save a friend's life while holding the ear in his mouth. He didn't lose it, but it was ruined and I had to make him a new one.
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No, nothing like that (which would have been mildly hilarious). I'd say the biggest mistake I've ever made was purchasing the wrong sized hardware once -which I didn't figure out till months later. LESSON LEARNED!!
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"The Onion" Contributors
What's your favorite Onion headline of all time?
Parcel Delivery Mailman
Are you a lot stronger and more fit because of your job?
EMT
Does your crew ever fake an emergency to slice through traffic?
Plastic surgery, or do you mean the prosthesis itself? If you are referring to burn victims, yes, it's can normally still be spotted depending on the severity and location. As for a prosthesis for any missing part, the goal is to make the ear undetectable depending on the deformity and proximity of the onlooker.
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No, I haven't. Prosthetic make-up is a major skill in itself, one that I haven't learned yet. Some prosthetists like myself do make them for movies occasionally. My mentor aided in Fat Bastard's costume from "Austin Powers", and even for Tom Cruise in "Interview with the Vampire", so I got a lot of insight from learning about his experiences. I had 2 choices : 1. spend 40 hours of work for a scene in a movie that will be shot for 5 seconds or 2: spend 40 hours making a prosthesis with a genuine purpose. I chose the latter. :)
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Just one? That's very hard to choose, every last one is gratifying. If I had to choose one, it would be the patient I mentioned in a previous question. He had lost half of his face to cancer, and the result was completely undetectable. Ok ok.....I have to choose one more. An 8 year old patient of mine recently gave me a card telling me I had changed his life. TEAR JERKER!
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