The Art of the Cosmetic Covering: Massachusetts Woman’s Skin Tones Keep Things Real

June 9, 1953, may have started as a normal day in Worcester, Massachusetts, but it didn't end that way. Diane Bisnette was seven years old, and she remembers the events of the day well. A devastating F4 tornado roared through the area and tore the rooftop from the apartment building where she lived with her parents and younger sister and brother. Bisnette sustained bilateral lower-limb amputations.

"Back in those days, there were no warnings, no technology like we have today," says Bisnette, now 71 and a resident of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, where she lives with and cares for her husband, who had a debilitating stroke seven years ago.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="366"] Bisnette at the tornado memorial. Photographs courtesy of Diane Bisnette.[/caption] By the time Bisnette's mother, who was cooking dinner in their third-floor apartment as the tornado approached, realized what was happening and gathered her children, it was too late. The approaching storm had created a vacuum so tight they could not open their front door. They were stuck inside and at the mercy of the tornado, which took only minutes to destroy everything.

"My memory is of darkness swirling me about and slamming me down and a loud noise like a train pressing into my ears," says Bisnette, who remained conscious throughout her ordeal. The entire third floor was gone, she recalls. "Our apartment opened to the sky," she says.

Bisnette says she was covered by chunks of plaster and metal beams, but she doesn't remember feeling pain. When her mother was finally able to remove the debris, she discovered that Bisnette's right leg was gone, "cut clean off above the knee," she says. Her left leg was severed about three inches below her knee. "My mother instinctively removed the tangled window curtains still on the rod in the kitchen and tied the cord tightly around my thighs, and that saved my life," Bisnette adds.

She was taken to the hospital where her left leg was amputated. Her siblings' injuries were less severe; her sister sustained a concussion and her brother's skin was pitted with small bits of debris. Bisnette says her mother was so shocked by the storm and its aftermath that she was unable to speak for days.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300"] Bisnette and her sister, Nancy.[/caption] Famous Resident Bisnette says she became well known in Worcester and the surrounding communities thanks to the Worcester Telegram and Gazette. Articles about the disaster and her amputations caught the attention of Boston resident and prosthetist Victor Robillard, who owned Massachusetts Limb and Brace. Robillard offered to fabricate prostheses for Bisnette, free of charge. "They did not make the offer to gain [attention], but out of kindness," says Bisnette, who estimates that she received at least four sets of prostheses from Robillard before he passed away. She says her first pair of limbs fit well and she was soon able to walk.

Blueberry Hill and Wooden Legs Bisnette says her physical therapy in the 1950s was practicing balance, dancing, and walking with family members. Her godmother would play Fats Domino's hit song, "Blueberry Hill," over and over and they would dance the foxtrot in her grandmother's living room.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400"] Bisnette before she received her prostheses.[/caption] Bisnette's early transtibial prosthesis consisted of a heavy leather corset that was connected to the socket with shiny silver braces. The corset hugged her thigh and was secured with leather laces, and she wore a heavy wool sock over her entire residual limb. "I had to adjust [the corset] every morning when I put it on," she says. Her transfemoral prosthesis had a quadrilateral socket, a bucket-shaped wooden piece, which she donned with a pull sock.

Bisnette says her first sets of prostheses were made of wood and shaped "fairly nicely and spray painted to look somewhat real.

"What I learned back then was to be grateful that something existed that would allow me to live my life and never to think that the limbs would be real, feel real, look real, or be comfortable," says Bisnette, whose left residual limb developed bone spurs as she grew. As a result, she had surgeries at ages ten, 13, and 16 to remove the spurs.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="333"] Bisnette with her parents.[/caption] The Art of Cosmetic Covering Since Bisnette was not interested in sports, the prostheses she had been fitted with met her needs functionally, but appearance was important to her. "I wasn't an athlete, so running, jumping, or climbing rocks never interested me," she says. "But being able to wear the latest shoes, wearing dresses, and having covers that were aesthetically pleasing to me was what I needed."

When Bisnette was younger, in addition to raising her three children, her life was full of travel and social activities. She can remember multiple occasions of having to change her prosthetic feet so she could wear shoes with different heel heights. It wasn't uncommon that her suitcases were filled with assorted feet and wrenches to make those changes during the many cruises she and her husband took.

Bisnette estimates she's had at least 15 pairs of prostheses throughout her life. Over the years, cosmesis has changed from spray-painted wood to cosmetic nylon stockings to foam shapes with spray paint to foam shapes with permanent silicone covers that covered much of her limb. Additionally, the toes on her prosthetic feet were split so she could wear sandals and nail polish.

"Back in the days of our very busy social life, all those things mattered to me," she says. "Today I only want a cover that prevents the hard material of the pylons, the microprocessor cover, from catching my clothing or bumping against something hard [and] causing a slit in my fabric."

Skip the Spray Paint Bob Emerson, CP, CEO of A Step Ahead Prosthetics, Burlington, Massachusetts, has been Bisnette's prosthetist for roughly the last 24 years. Emerson remembers being intimidated working with Bisnette in the beginning. "She was a motherly figure," he says.

Bisnette recently received her newest pairs of prostheses and silicone skins, Emerson says. Her left prosthesis has vacuum suspension and her right is a rounded quadrilateral socket with the Ottobock C-Leg, which Bisnette says she loves.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="281"] Wedding day.[/caption] The unique silicone skins Bisnette wears, called SkinTones™ System, were developed by A Step Ahead Prosthetics. Since SkinTones are fabricated and customized for each patient, the process is detailed and intimate, Emerson says. The practice has a department of artisans, craftsmen, and silicone/urethane engineers who have more than 50 years of combined experience in the art and science of anaplastology, he says.

Because Bisnette has bilateral amputations, a semicustom fitting process is somewhat easier than having to match a silicone skin to a natural leg, Emerson says. "You don't have to try and match everything," he says. "[A patient] may say, ‘I want my ankle smaller,' and we can make that happen. It's all about getting the shape right, being able to add the detail the patient wants."

Emerson says the process is very much back and forth between the patient and the prosthetist. The foam work is done on the first visit and the skin tones are applied on the follow-up visit. "It's not just something that we slap on there," says Emerson, a former Paralympic skier who lost his right leg above the knee in car accident when he was nine. "It's a highly detailed process that's completely up to the patient. It's all about fit, function, and appearance." In Emerson's case, he says his "armorized [skin] cover" fits his current, active lifestyle.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="287"] A later photo of Bisnette with her husband.[/caption] Emerson says silicone covers are not for everyone. "Some people like the high-tech look of carbon fiber," he says. In Bisnette's case, however, they have worked well for her. "She's happy with her SkinTones and she feels whole," he says.

Bisnette agrees. "I never really paid much attention to the details of prosthetics, all I ever wanted was for the pros to get me up and running, no matter what." Since she still does some gardening though, she told Emerson it was important to have a cover that is washable.

She says being young when the accident happened made her recovery process easier and smoother. "Nothing is easy about being an amputee," she says. "I never considered myself disabled until a few years ago [though], when my body began to show the wear and tear of being an amputee. But I'm grateful to still be at it, no matter how challenging."

Betta Ferrendelli is a freelance writer based in Denver.

The Art of the Cosmetic Covering: Massachusetts Woman’s Skin Tones Keep Things Real

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The Art of the Cosmetic Covering: Massachusetts Woman’s Skin Tones Keep Things Real

Related posts:

Major Medicare Audit and Appeals Developments

The Importance of Adaptability

Why Educated Technicians Are Critical to the Future of O&P Care and How Your Contribution Matters

O&P JOBS

Certified Orthotist

Ottobock Patient Care is growing!

🚨 Hanger Clinic is Hiring a Certified Prosthetist Orthotist in Philadelphia, PA!

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