Prosthetic limb and cosmetic cover, 2015 (c)

Fitted by Blatchford company technicians at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, Headley Court, Surrey, 2015 (c).

Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were widely used by insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq to inflict lethal and debilitating injuries on Coalition forces during the conflicts that developed after the terrorist attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001. A Ministry of Defence report, 'Amputation Statistics 1 April 2014 - 31 March 2019', published on 1 August 2019, records that from 7 October 2001 to 31 March 2019, 333 UK service personnel, serving in the Afghanistan or Iraq, suffered injuries that included a traumatic or surgical amputation.

This cosmetic prosthetic limb for below the knee amputation of the left leg is fitted with a cosmetic cover for a British Army soldier of African descent, 2015 (c).

The prosthetic limb has a cosmetic cover with a rubber finish to make it look more natural. This type of leg could be provided four to six weeks after amputation. This example of cosmesis is quite simple, but more sophisticated examples can incorporate individual hairs, birthmarks, skin pores and even tattoos.