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Aesthetic Dimensions of Hand Prostheses

Abstract:

A review of the aesthetic aspects currently considered for the development of external models of handheld prostheses is presented. To this end, research was carried out on the criteria that have been associated with the prostheses, of this important member, throughout history. In addition, the technological perspectives and needs of users, as well as the social and cultural aspects at different times, are analyzed; offering visions of the history of art and around the technological dimension of prosthetic conception. It could be seen that prosthetics in ancient times had a functional rather than aesthetic intent in terms of plausibility, while today users demand that the prosthetic device get closer and closer to the lost hand. The demands placed on scientists, engineers and artists involved in the design, manufacture and implementation processes of hand prostheses have generated great advances that, managing the aesthetic criterion and associating it with the requirements of the users, have allowed the development of prostheses increasingly physiologically close to the human hand, taking into account external aspects such as shape, folds, fingerprints, texture and color of the user’s skin. Also, the aesthetic aspect should be linked to the ease of use of the prosthesis by the user since it is proven that many patients abandon the use of the prosthesis but manage to adapt to the manipulation of the device.