Hello, and welcome!
This being the inaugural post in this blog series, I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself and the the reasons for creating this website — OXENFREE ART - Anaplatology | Prosthetic Design. My name is Ali Padilla and I currently work as a Clinical Anaplastologist in Belgium. I graduated from the Biomedical Visualization Master’s Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago, with a focus on Anaplastology.
Since becoming an Anaplastologist, it has become clear that there is a surprisingly limited amount of information and resources related to Anaplastology available online. When I first became interested in the field of facial prosthetics, I was very interested in finding out as much as I possibly could…which proved rather difficult, due to the general lack of information and examples of this type of work. And so, with that in mind, I made it my personal goal to post some of my personal on various social media platforms in an effort to disseminate information about this extremely interesting and niche field. As I continued to post, I was contacted more and more by people who had questions about Anaplastology (just as I did years before), which I was actually in a position to answer! And as interest has continued to grow, I wanted to take this opportunity to develop a website to reach a broader audience.
The aim of this site is to inform and educate the general public, potential patients, and professionals about the field of Anaplastology. All work on this site was created by myself (unless otherwise specified), and is coupled with my professional Instagram account — @oxenfree_prosthetics — to showcase what can be created with modern prosthetic technology. I have attempted to explain some of the processes involved in making the various types of prostheses, as well as to provide photographic examples of these processes, since adequate visualization is key to understanding. As a supplement to general information about Anaplastology, I also have included a list of useful links, websites, and resources where additional information relevant to the field can be found. As the fields of Anaplastology, Prosthetic Design, and Medical Art / Illustration overlap in various ways, these links will cover a broad range of topics — everything from education programs and annual conferences, to relevant tech and interesting blogs. And to that end, in this blog section I will do my best to post interesting content and answer questions relevant to Anaplastology and these previously mentioned topics.
Anaplastology is an incredibly interesting and important area of medical rehabilitation. As one of the newer players in the field of Anaplastology, I feel it is important to share some of my personal experiences in an effort to draw attention to the fascinating world of facial prosthetics. Hopefully this site and blog will inform potential patients of what types of prosthetic services are available to them, as well as serve as a resource for aspiring Anaplastologists.
In the meantime, I will try to put together interesting and relevant blog posts from time to time, as well as answer any Anaplastology questions you might have. I regularly post works-in-progress on my Instagram account ( ↓↓ my recent IG feed is also embedded at the bottom of this website ↓↓ ), so feel free to check it out, familiarize yourselves with some of the work, and contact me with questions.
Enjoy!
-Ali (Oxenfree) Padilla