Keeping you covered – a quick guide to
Because every patient is different, so every
patient has different priorities when it comes
to post-operative care. While some will want to
master talking as soon as possible, others may
want to get back onto good, solid food as soon
as they can.
Recovery can take a long time – and sometimes
the after-effects – and the impact lingers.
Continuing care is available for patients’
emotional state, speech and language
therapy is available to help them re-master
communication; even post-op swimming training
is on-hand for those that want to get back into
the water.
But there’s one area of post-op recovery that’s
less well known. And yet, for some, it could have
quite a positive impact on how they feel about
themselves and how they enjoy their lives as
larys. We’re talking about skin camouflage.
So what is it? Skin camouflage is a range
of cosmetic make-ups and creams (for men
and women) that can be applied to scars and
blemishes. We’ll take a look at the sort of
applications you might expect a little further on,
but first – a little bit of background...
The British Association of Skin Camouflage
(BASC) was formed in 1985 in the wake of
pioneering work by Joyce Allsworth. During the
ARM SCAR: Before
22 THE VOICE | Summer 2010
SKIN CAMOUFLAGE
1950s Joyce brought the concept of medical skin
camouflage to Great Britain. While serving with
the WAAF during the Second World War, Joyce
had seen airmen return home with horribly
disfiguring burns. She felt it wasn’t enough for
her to feel empathy for these people; she had to
try to do more.
Joyce found out all she could about the
groundbreaking techniques that were being
applied in concealing injuries – mostly burns
at that time. Among the early pioneers had
been the master of make-up, Max Factor,
who’d applied concealing make-ups for war
veterans, and set the benchmark for what could
be achieved. Later, excellent work was done
here in England too. Plastic surgeon Archibald
McIndoe, (later knighted for his services) broke
new ground in the treatment of burns and skin
injuries; he understood that it wasn’t just the
patient’s body that needed healing – giving a
person back their self respect and their dignity
went a long way to aiding their recovery process
– and medical camouflage make-up could help
do that.
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