The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-06-11
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
BUREAU
FREDERIC J. HASKIN, Director.
Washington. D. C
NEW FACEs FOR OLD.
Washington. D. G

! interesting collection of drawings is
now being made at Walter Reed hos
| pital in the Maxillo- facial department,
which to quote one of the patients.
makes us better faces than We ever
had before"
| These pictures are TO constitute a
complete record of each case returned
to this hospital with wounds about the
| head and thru the face. They will be
| invaluable to science.
The first drawing is made of the
| soldier as he looks upon arrival at the
| hospital. 1t is done in water colors
and the boy is posed in manner
which gives the best view of the
wound.
The next drawings are made while
the operation is being performed. The
artist goes into the operating room
and remains during the entire opera
| ton. OF course she makes no attempt
at an elaborate drawing. but does
| only very rough sketches on small
! slips of paper. These sketches look
like the equivalent of shorthand in
| art, and are unintelligible to every
one but the artist. She says very often
the surgeon casts nervous glances at
them and exhibits doubts as to just
what the records are going to show.
After leaving the operating room
| the artist makes larger diagrams from
| the rough sketches and these are done
| in the natural colors showing the de-
tails of how pieces of cartilage are
transferred to the nose to form a
| bridge; how fat is removed from the
! abdomen and used to round out the
! cheek in cases of deep puckered scars,
| and how flaps of skin are taken from
| the forehead or neck to fill the spaces
| made by the removal of great scars,
and illustrating operations for grating
| bone where parts of the jaws are shot
| away. 4
The third and final drawing is one
! of the man as he looks after the
wound has fully healed after the
| operation. These drawings are then
| filed with rotations made on them as
| to the boys name, nature of wound
and brief history of the case. These
will later be mounted and framed and
placed on exhibit in the medical
museum.
This work of making drawings in
! naural colors for records was insti-
tuted at Walter Reed hospital by the
officer in charge of oral surgery there.
| The chief of MaXillo- Fac ial depart
! ment is a physician, formerly of Mil
waukee. whose special work for years
has been surgery of the face and jaws.
| He is usually the IMAM behind the
knife" altho all of the officers in this
| section have to teamwork together
| to get the best results and frequently
| take turns around the operating table,
| each doing the special phase of the
work in which he is most expert.
Only a very small percentage of
| men who received wounds thru the
! face lived to return to this country
| Eight hundred is the estimated total
out of the many thousands. Perhaps
| more deaths occurred from wounds
of this kind than from any other kind.
These boys were all treated in the
| hospitals in France and gotten in as
| good shape as possible before they
were returned to this country. Sur
geons here say that they cannot speak
too highly of the work done by the
| surgeons abroad. They were greatly
handicapped by not having the proper
| facilities or materials, but in no case
received at Walter Reed hospital
could there be any criticism made.
The majority of the wounds thru
| the face were made by machine gun
bullets and small shell fragments. The
| missiles usually made rather small
holes at point of entry, but, gathering
pieces of the jaw bone. teeth and
other structures as they tore thru the
mouth, made very large decorations
where they came out.
| When a patient is first received at
the Maxillo-Facial department, he is
| sent to dental hygienist, who cleans
his teeth and puts his mouth in per-
feet order. These dental hygienists are
| all women who have received one
years dental training. The patient
usually seems rather to enjoy this,
part of the treatment
He Is then sent to the X-ray depart
ment where X-ray photographs are
| made in order to show just what
damage was done to the inside of the
mouth. The official photographer
then takes photographs of the boy,
posing him in the necessary number
| of positions to show the original loca-
VIZ
photographs are made, plaster of
paris impressions are taken of the
face and mouth, which are either
poured into plaster or into wax The
latter is better because it can be more
easily colored. These casts are very
lifelike when finished and the boys
claim it is very disturbing to see
ones head reposing on a shelf with
a long line of others. 1t brings mem
| cries of stories told of the revolution
| IN North China several years ago
when long lines of heads were stuck
upon posts along the main streets of
| the villages.
The patient is finally turned over
to the artist who makes the first of
i her series of drawings.
There are three wards of these
cases at Walter Reed hospital, con-
tanning about 120 men. A great many
or them are unable to chew solid food
| on account of the loss of their teeth
tor TINS reason there is a special die
| uclan whose work is to study the in
| dividual needs of every man and see
that he gets the proper things to eat.
In cases where large sections of the
1awbone have been torn away these
have to be replaced by artifi ,ial means,
and in such work no expense is spared
Splints of special design to hold the
bone fragments rigid while union is
taking place are used. These are made
in the mechanical laboratory. They
are made of cast silver. and are gold
plated in order to have the cleanliness
of the gold over the silver surface.
The upper and lower jaws are then
| locked by these splints so that 1t is
impossible for the patient to move his
mouth. At first glance this would APP
pear considerably to impede conversa-