Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
those precious stones and glass were used: during peoples' lives or
after their death?
The first “functional” eye prostheses - used during the a person's
life - appeared at the end of the 16th or at the beginning of the 17th
Century. Eye prostheses were made of gold or silver balls decorated
with a painted porcelain iris. Due to the density of gold and silver,
those eye prostheses were very heavy and uncomfortable. They were
replaced at the 18th Century by French prostheses made of half-cut
shells, better taking the shape of the ocular cavity. However, the
quality of those prostheses was very bad and their aesthetic
appearance was poor. Around the middle of the 18th Century, German
glass blowers found how to improve the quality of these prostheses
but it was to the detriment of its “biocompatibility” because the glass
contained “lead” which induced intense irritations to the patients and
at the same time it degraded within months. As the prostheses had to
be frequently replaced, glass blowers worked to set up a higher quality
of glass to fabricate longer-term prostheses. Nowadays, this kind of
prosthesis still exists and is used for patients affected by
microphthalmia (developmental disorder of the eye) - microphthalmia
literally means “small eye”. Today eye prostheses are made of glass or
of synthetic resins and are specially elaborated and fabricated for each
patient.
1.5. Wood, leather, stainless steel to replace amputated limbs
One of the most well known orthopaedic prostheses would come
from Egypt and date from antiquity. This prosthesis - visible at the
museum of Cairo - was described by German researchers assuming
that Egyptians were able to amputate limbs and design prosthesis.
They hypothesized that through the observation of an old Egyptian
mummy of a dead woman - approximately 3000 years ago - she was
amputated at the right toe and would have had a big toe prosthesis
made of sculptured wood and connected to the foot by a sewn leather
girdle and fabrics. The tracks of wear debris would show that the
prosthesis was used and allowed this woman to walk. Besides this
example, other people dated the first prostheses from prehistory, when
