Otto Bock sells prosthetic cosmetic gloves for their mechanical hand. They are, however, not the only manufacturer of prosthetic cosmetic gloves. After researching the market I found that other companies offer very attractive products in the line of silicone gloves or silicone hand prosthesis. Typically, there is some sort of trade-off between availability, cost, appearance, functionality and durability.
First look
Otto Bock MyoSkin / MovoSkin (left: silicon glove) and a more sophisticated alternative product by Regal Prosthesis (right: silicon glove).
Otto Bock’s glove (left) features a transparent covering layer that appears to act as protective layer but is still rather sticky (makes it hard to slide into a sleeve) whereas the overall realism of the Regal glove (right) is apparent – veins, coloration, skin structure are a lot better.
The Otto Bock product is relatively thin, the tips are not enforced; with such a thin glove one would expect it to offer better sliding properties when getting into a jacket. That glove is expensive and fragile at once; I accdentally damaged it rather soon (after about 8 weeks of wearing it). The Regal glove is now on my prosthetic hand since over 6 months and still showing no signs of wear and tear or discoloration.
Both are shaped and sized to fit on my mechanical voluntary opening Otto Bock hand.
Prices can vary considerably. The cheapest price for a high quality cosmetic glove by Regal Prosthesis we found can be around 440CHF, the Otto Bock silicon glove are billed 650.35 CHF, and hand painted sophisticated gloves can cost as much as between 12’000 CHF (Orthtotop, Zuerich) or 41’000 CHF (very artistic French prosthesist).
Extended use of cosmetic glove
PVC Otto Bock and Otto Bock Silicon-type glove both last about 2-3 months. The PVC then strongly discolorizes and the Silicon-type glove gets damaged mechanically as it is very thin. The Regal Prosthesis glove so far is under usage since > 6 months and no problems. It fits the Otto Bock hand very well.
Cool Becker hand – red Becker hand
Silicone gloves look great. But with a cold climate you put on and remove coats and pullovers all the time. So silicone really sticks to the sleeves. Also, I tear up silicone gloves relatively fast while PVC lasts longer. The only drawback is that PVC attracts dirt a bit fast – the kind of dirt that is hard or even impossible to remove.
So I got Centri to make me a small series of custom red cosmetic gloves. Check it out.
Other options
A prosthetic hand does not have to mimic a natural hand. It will never look and feel normal anyway so at one point in time one has to make that step towards acknowledging that.
- You can start sewing your own gloves and prosthetic covers.
- You can paint or spray your parts. Or get a 3D cut pattern and sew a cover or sleeve or glove. Currently I favor the color red, see my Red Hand/ Arm project.
My name is: C Hernandez Roberson
Electronic Technologist I.U.P.B
Soy Colombiano
I lost my left hand 17 years ago and since then I have not been happy with the traditional prosthesis that I found on the market.
Therefore I developed a prosthesis that overcomes the traditional characteristics.
Some of the features are:
-Adjusts to the shape of any object, no matter how irregular its shape. (Including spheres).
It has a low-cost construction
-You have flexibility in each finger
It is easy to use and is not uncomfortable for those who use it.
Have a low-weight
If you want to see a video of its operation, please open the attached link in this e-mail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0YmmC4Jhmo
I am interested in publicizing this invention for the benefit of other people who have a limitation similar to mine.