Artsy cosmetic surgery alternative
Corsets, made by artist Paddy Hartley, temporarily simulate the effects of cosmetic surgery. In addition to exploring people’s obsessions with beauty, the corsets are helping surgeons treat patients disfigured by things such as burns.
The corsets have been developed with Ian Thompson from the tissue-engineering group at Imperial College London, whose research involves making and refining bioactive glass implants to reconstruct faces damaged by accidents or surgery. Bioactive glass has a very similar composition to bone, and its surface opens within hours of implantation, and allows tissue to grow into it.
From art to therapy
Hartley explains: “I wanted to make a series of garments in response to facial ideals of today. I was interesting in how the soft tissues of the face can be manipulated, moved around and changed. It’s the same way that body corsets were used to change the figure.” He designed some of the facial corsets to mimic results of surgery to augment cheeks with the use of implants and lip enhancement in response to botox injection treatments.
Others redirect the lips and cheeks contrary to the accepted ideals of the ‘western face’. He said his extreme face corset (pictured) inspired the dental prosthetics department at King’s College London to invite him to make a minimal, clear PCV facial device for a patient requiring support around an area of the face during the healing process after dental implant surgery.
