Silicone Hand & Partial Hand Prosthesis in India

Silicone Hand & Forearm Prosthesis — Hair Matched

This is a hand and forearm restoration for a below-elbow (transradial) level. The photograph is one of our own: the hair has been implanted strand by strand across the forearm and the back of the hand, following the direction the hair grows on the wearer’s other arm.

Hair matching matters more than people expect. A silicone arm with the right colour but no hair still reads as artificial at conversational distance, particularly on men. It is slow work and it is done case by case, which is why no two of these are alike.

Specification

Points to know

• Matched to the length and girth of the sound arm, not to a standard size.
• Hair colour, density and direction are matched to the wearer’s other arm.
• Silicone stains permanently from ballpoint ink, newsprint and strong dyes — this is the single most common cause of a cover looking old early.

Silicone Hand Prosthesis — Colour Matched to the Sound Hand

This photograph is the check we do at the colour stage: the prosthesis is laid against the wearer’s own hand, in daylight, and the two are compared directly. If the match is not right, the colour work goes back on the bench.

Skin is not one colour. The back of a hand is darker than the palm, the knuckles are darker again, and the fingertips carry more red. A flat single-tone silicone hand is the giveaway that something is artificial, so the colour is built up in layers rather than mixed to one shade.

Specification

Points to know

• Matching is done in person, in daylight, against the wearer’s own hand.
• Skin tone changes with sun exposure and season, so a match made in one month will not be perfect in another.
• Rings and bangles can be worn over the prosthesis, as in the photograph.

Partial Hand Prosthesis — Thumb Preserved

Where the thumb has survived an injury, it is almost always worth keeping it working. This restoration is shaped around the thumb rather than over it: the wearer’s own thumb stays exposed and keeps its sensation, and the silicone replaces the fingers and the body of the hand.

That matters because sensation cannot be replaced. A thumb you can feel with, opposing a silicone surface you cannot, is a more useful hand than a complete cosmetic one.

Specification

Points to know

• Keeps the wearer’s own sensation in the preserved thumb.
• Shaped from an impression of the remaining hand, so the fit follows the scar line rather than a standard outline.
• Hair and tone are matched to the other hand.

Partial Hand Prosthesis — Two Finger

A two-finger restoration, shown here off the hand. The knuckle creases, the nail beds and the slight differences in length between the digits are all formed into the silicone rather than printed on.

Partial hand losses are the most common upper-limb losses we see, and they are the ones people most often assume nothing can be done about. In practice they are among the most satisfying to restore, because so little has to be rebuilt for the hand to read as whole again.

Specification

Partial Hand Prosthesis — Three Views

Three views of one device, before colouring. The cuff is the part that holds it on: it is extended up the hand far enough to stay put during use, and thinned at the edge so the join does not show as a ridge under the skin tone.

The edge is the hardest part of this work. A thick edge is visible and catches; too thin and it tears. Getting that transition right is most of what separates a restoration that is worn daily from one that stays in a drawer.

Specification

Points to know

• Shown uncoloured — the pigment work is the last stage, done with the wearer present.
• The cuff length is a trade-off between security and how much of the hand is covered; it is decided case by case.