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The history of aesthetics of prosthetics

Af Den Under art and biomed, history of medicine, material studies · 4 Comments

Today’s MedGadget relates how designer Joanna M. Hawley has created a design project for prosthetic legs inspired by the product line of (and co-branded with) the famous US furniture company Eames.

Hawley introduces her project with the statement: ”Prosthetics generally lack humanity, style and grace”. This is good and sympathetic point of departure for a creative design process, and accordingly her devices are beautifully designed.

But — is it really true that prosthetic devices generally have been designed and manufactured with little concern about aesthetics? Here at Medical Museion it took us only a few minutes search in our in-house historical collections to find several examples that disprove her statement.

The way prostheses have been produced has obviously evolved over time. Like other tools and equipment they have been produced with available manufacturing technologies and from whatever suitable materials were at hand. Most of the prosthetic artefacts in our collections are very well produced and show that much care and consideration has been invested in making them.

The functions of these devices vary. Sometimes, the purpose has obviously been to make a fully maneuverable hand that can grab and carry. In other occasions,however, the purpose has been to make a protesthetic that looks like the missing body part.

This prosthetic hand has a special history that dates back to the early 19th century. After the brave navy soldier Niels Therkelsen lost both hands in a sea battle on the coast of Copenhagen in 1807, the Danish king Frederik VI had a pair of wooden hands specially made for him. A short glance at the prosthesis reveals that this is a piece of delicate craftsmanship. Both function and aesthetics have been carefully considered. The ball joints allow the fingers to be maneuvered into positions that makes it possible to grab and carry items, and a set of tools –– spikes, a spoon etc. — can be fastened on the hand.

Here is another, more recent, example. The functional purpose of this hand is to look right. And it is indeed a very lively example that appears almost like a “real” hand – even the nails have been modulated with great care. One has to look carefully to see that it is not real.

 

I could give many other examples from our collections. Considerations of function, material, and form — or in Hawley’s words “humanity, style and grace” — are not missing in the history of prosthetic manufacturing. Materials and technologies have changed over time but prostheses have alway been manufactured with an eye both to their functionality and their aesthetic appearance. But Joanna M. Hawleys contribution is, of course, a very interesting continuation of this long story of how technology and aesthetics have been combined in the manufacturing of prostheses.

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  • http://artificiallimbtrade.blogspot.com/ Al Pike, CP

    Prostheses where much more lifelike when I came into the field over 40 years ago then they are today. With the new technology there has been a trade off – design over aesthetics. Today an amputee looks robotic.

  • http://www.alatheia.com Emil Dovan

    I believe that it depends upon who you talk with but medical care professionals will sometimes not choose what the client would choose as most important for prosthetic care. I have encountered thousands of people that use prostheses. Overwhelmingly requested is the desire to be whole again, and aesthetics ranks high in this. Medical professionals will generally choose (in this order) as most important: function, comfort, cost, realism. Individual clients usually rank the choice: realism, comfort, function, cost. The difference is in the eye of the beholder or user. Medical professionals would serve the public well by presenting more options so that the client can base a decision on their individual need or desire. I believe the manufacturers and producers are improving somewhat since 2010 in the offering. My company, Alatheia Prosthetics, has just developed Praxis Replication Technology, which joins science and art to make technology personal.

    • http://www.museion.ku.dk Thomas

      Hello Emil, that’s a very interesting experience (realism in this case means a prosthetic that looks like the original body part, right?)

      • Emil Dovan

        Thomas, forgive me, it has been a year since your inquiry but this is the first time that I revisited this site since my original trip. To answer your question, yes a prosthesis that would look like the original body part.