The Tin Noses Shop - Faces of War

During and after World War I there were many, many people left with horrible disfigurements that the current plastic surgeons couldn't help with or do anything about. This is the story of "the tin noses shop", which specialised in picking up where the surgeons left off. They specialised in making masks that were as identical to the soldiers' original facial construction as possible.

This excerpt describes the gratitude by one of the soldiers that were involved with the tin noses shop:

The voices of the disfigured men who wore the masks are for the most part known only from meager correspondence with Ladd, but as she herself recorded, "The letters of gratitude from the soldiers and their families hurt, they are so grateful." "Thanks to you, I will have a home," one soldier had written her. "...The woman I love no longer finds me repulsive, as she had a right to do."

It's really fascinating that they were able to do this and increase these soldiers quality of life and self-esteem in the way that they did, especially in the realistic way they were able to make it look. I would recommend to both watch the video and read the article to get the full impression of the story. The article also contains pictures that shows how the masks worked and looked.

This video is gathered from google and the music does not belong there, but it can also be found in the source link.



The entire article: Faces of War

PS: I believe this belongs in the S&T forum because it describes a combination of technology, science and art that existed in those years. But if a moderator sees it otherwise, I'll be happy if it can be moved to a more appropriate forum.

s+f

that's incredible what they tried to do.

no doubt they gave them some confidence back.

it had to be tough, tho. but still, they can look rather normal in social settings.

it had to be acceptable because it was fashionable to have TB at that time? iirc.





btw, the music is insane, i love it.

Though I can imagine ever so slightly what it must have felt like to be disfigured as such, the change from repulsion to acceptance for these gentlemen must have been close to overwhelming. We always think and hear of the ones who die yet nearly nothing mentions the ones that make it back less than whole.

Good clip.

I am surprised that I have never seen any of the face parts in antique shoppes and or roadshows. This is the first I have seen this.

I am guessing these folks bonded themselves with their features and the mask that they likely were buried with them.

Very interesting. I am sure they were very heavy compared to today's prosthetics.

reply to post by gardCanada


You're probably right. Maybe almost as much as when they saw themselves in the mirror for the first time, and something completely shocking stared back at them. I can't even imagine how it would be like to experience anything like that, overwhelming is probably an understatement though.


reply to post by Greensage


Many of the soldiers were burried with their masks, and per the excerpt beneath, the prosthetics got damaged after a few years of use.

Almost no record of the men who wore the masks survives, but even within Ladd's one-year tenure it was clear that a mask had a life of only a few years. "He had worn his mask constantly and was still wearing it in spite of the fact that it was very battered and looked awful," Ladd had written of one of her studio's early patients.

reply to post by fooks


Yeah, they looked more like themselves than if they didn't use the masks. But, it didn't help with their speech or anything like that, which is probably pretty revealing in itself. I imagine they kept more to their families than engaging in social interaction.

[edit on 1/9/10 by Droogie]

reply to post by Droogie


john merrick?


whatever helped these guys not slam the bottom and stay there, is a good thing.

i doubt speech impediments would be a large deterrent to them socially.

just being confident no one will react in horror looking at them, would be a huge boost.

the war was over, most of these guys were well off, to afford this.

they had social status.

some might have gone the way of the phantom of the opera, (ref the killer music)

but it was a great thing they did.