How do prosthetic spray skins help your patients feel more comfortable with their new prosthetics?
Losing a limb can be a traumatic and devastating experience. There is never an easy way to cope with amputation, as patients go through a massive change in life, which can trigger emotions like grief and depression. Part of the recovery process involves getting a prosthetic to replace the residual limb, but this can also be a daunting experience for many.
Fortunately, prosthetic devices have come a long way. Thanks to advancements in technology, prosthetic design has evolved to imitate the look of natural limbs. With the help of spray skins, central fabricators can now create realistic-looking prosthetic skin, which has helped improve patient comfort significantly.
What Are Spray Skins in Prosthetics?
There are many ways to create a custom prosthetic skin finish, but spray skin technology is one of the most popular. It is essentially a cosmetic skin coating that you spray or brush onto a prosthetic device to make it more realistic. The coat is durable, waterproof, and textured, ultimately allowing prosthesis to look and feel like a natural limb.
When using spray skins, the key is to find the perfect shade that will match your patient’s skin tone. This way, you can provide them with a custom device that they can be more confident about wearing.
Role of Spray Skins in Maximizing Patient Comfort
Traditionally, prosthetics would be either cosmetic or functional—the former focusing on aesthetics, while the latter focuses on restoring motor function. However, it has become increasingly clear that aesthetics and functionality go hand-in-hand to provide the best comfort level over the years. And this is where innovations like spray skin play a critical role.
Spray skins help maximize patient comfort in two main ways—by providing devices with more realistic prosthetic skin and giving your patients the freedom to customize their prosthetic design.
Providing Devices with Realistic Prosthetic Skin
Back then, amputees often had to do with functional devices that did not necessarily match their skin tone or look like their natural limbs. Of course, this made them uncomfortable wearing the prosthesis—much less learning how to use it. Spray skins thus address this problem by helping you provide patients with devices with realistic-looking skin.
By giving your patients a custom-made device with prosthetic skin, they become less self-conscious and more confident about wearing it. It also helps them through the adjustment process, given that the prosthesis has the texture and feel of natural skin, ultimately alleviating discomfort.
While not everyone is as conscious about how their prosthesis looks when worn, aesthetics is undoubtedly a big pain point for many amputees. It is especially true for people who work in public places or anyone who is dealing with low self-esteem after losing a limb. However, they may be more conscious of how “obvious” the device looks on them, so giving them a realistic prosthesis can do wonders in improving their comfort-levels.
Freedom to Choose a Prosthetic Design
Even those who are not as concerned about aesthetics still appreciate having a say in what their prosthetic skin looks like. By allowing your patients to participate in the central fabrication process, you can help them feel more comfortable about wearing the device once it is ready for them.
In other words, you can provide your patients with many more options to design their prosthetics, so they know what to expect with the output. It also allows them to adjust to the change more quickly, as they can dictate how they want their prosthesis to be based on their lifestyle and needs.
Try Out Grace’s Spray Skins to Create Custom Prosthetic Skins for Your Patients
Given how stressful and devastating it can be to lose a limb, you naturally want to help your patient feel comfortable with their new prosthetic. With this, Grace’s spray skins are a cost-effective way to customize your patient’s prosthetic skin to provide more comfort and confidence for the wearer.
Here at Grace Prosthetic Fabrication, we have a state-of-the-art spray skin lab to help you create realistic prosthetic devices, above the knee, below the knee, upper extremity, or others. Call us today at 1-800-940-5347 for more information on our central fabrication services.
