Low-cost prosthesis gives Brazil cancer survivor a new face

Denise Vicentin cries when she looks in the mirror for the first time after getting a digitally-engineered prosthesis, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. After losing her right eye and part of her jaw to cancer, the Brazilian woman is getting a new face thanks to a digitally-engineered prosthesis.

Denise Vicentin looks in the mirror for the first time after getting a digitally-engineered prosthesis. "Today I can say how much better I will feel being out in the streets. I have no words," Vicentin, 53, tells at a clinic in Sao Paulo after being fitted with a prosthesis for a missing chunk of her face.

A doctor works on the construction of the eye implant of Denise Vicentin. Researchers at Paulista University are employing smartphones and 3D printing to create digital facial impressions used to make silicone prostheses. The pioneering method has slashed costs and halved production times.

Doctor Rodrigo Salazar-Gamarra (C) places a digitally-engineered prosthesis on Denise Vicentin. "In the past, it took much longer work, hours of sculpting by hand, and the process was very invasive, with material on the patient's face to get an imprint of their appearance," says Rodrigo Salazar, the lead researcher. "Today with cell phone pictures, we create a three-dimensional model."

Denise Vicentin embraces doctor Rodrigo Salazar-Gamarra after receiving a digitally-engineered prosthesis. Vicentin is one of more than 50 patients treated by Salazar and his colleagues since 2015. The team specializes in maxillofacial prosthetics, a branch of dentistry focused on treating people disfigured by birth defects, disease or trauma.

Doctor Rodrigo Salazar-Gamarra places a digitally-engineered prosthesis on Denise Vicentin. Vicentin's ordeal began 30 years ago when she developed a facial tumor. It was removed twice, but it returned in a malignant form two decades later. Gradually, she lost parts of the right side of her face - along with her marriage and her dignity.

Doctor Rodrigo Salazar-Gamarra places a digitally-engineered prosthesis on Denise Vicentin. "When I was on the metro or train, I tried not to pay attention to the stares," Vicentin recalls. "At places like the bowling alley, I felt them looking, and the person would even leave when they saw me." Vicentin has difficulty eating and her speech slurs because of the loss of her jaw. Her daughter, Jessica, acts as her interpreter

A doctor tests an eye implant on Denise Vicentin. Her transformation began in 2018. She got a titanium rods implant in her eye socket to hold the prosthesis. Over the next year, she underwent multiple surgeries to build up her facial tissue.

A doctor tests an eye implant on Denise Vicentin. She received the completed prosthesis in early December. The small egg-sized piece fit perfectly, with magnets clipping it to the titanium implants.

Doctor Rodrigo Salazar-Gamarra works on a digitally-engineered prosthesis for Denise Vicentin

A doctor works on the construction of the eye implant of Denise Vicentin

Doctor Rodrigo Salazar-Gamarra works on a digitally-engineered prosthesis for Denise Vicentin

A doctor tests an eye implant on Denise Vicentin

Denise Vicentin poses after receiving a digitally-engineered prosthesis

Denise Vicentin embraces a member of the medical staff of doctor Rodrigo Salazar-Gamarra (L) after receiving a digitally-engineered prosthesis