Case Studies
Go directly to the selected patient records of servicemen treated by Gillies and Paddy Hartley's Artistic responses
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Tin Facial Prosthetics
See amazing silent film clips of Ladd and Wood making and fitting tin facial prosthetics to injured servicemen circa 1916
ABC Radio Interview
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Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Cheek to Cheek
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The grafting of skin from patients buttocks to repair the cheek tissue of the face wasn’t unique to Norman as illustrated here. Byron Russell who came to see me earlier this year told me a tale his Grandmother Florence regarding her husband Alfred’s surgery.
Florence had told me that Alfred’s face had been extensively rebuilt on his repatriation, using grafting techniques with skin taken from his thigh and buttock. He would joke with Florence that when she kissed his cheek, she was actually kissing him somewhere else entirely.
Andrew at the Gillies Archive has told me similar stories of servicemen who had the same surgery, joking that when their Mother’s in law kissed them on the cheek, they were actually kissing their….. well, you know!
The cheek panels of Norman’s face garments are therefore made from the heavy material used to make Officers Breechers. Normans grafts however were not entirely successful. One cheek graft bedded in well but the other began to reject and he had to have the area regrafted with tissue from his chest branch pedicle. The rejection of the graft was documented with a series of coloured pencil sketches, a detail of which I have taken and incorporated into the second face piece of Normans.
Norman with his cheek grafts in place.
Original site of graft.
Norman’s 1st face piece with cheek panels made from Officers breechers cloth.
Norman as his face graft rejects.
Sketch from Norman’s records of skin discolouration as graft rejects.
Colour panel taken from sketch and incorporated into Norman’s 2nd face piece.
Norman’s chest branch pedicle to nose, cheek and upper lip.
Norman’s chest branch pedicle to nose, cheek and upper lip.
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