A New Face

新颜

Prosthetics Designer Helps Disfigured People Return to Public Life

整形设计师帮助毁容者重归社会

Jim Alexander was just stopping at a local convenience store for a cup of coffee on his way to work in 1996, but then his life changed. The Indiana man blacked out and crashed his car, which burned for 20 minutes before rescuers could get him out.

1996年，家住Indiana州的Tim Alexander上班途中想在当地一家便利店前停车喝杯咖啡，但是就在此时他的生活彻底改变了。他突然眼前一黑晕了过去，撞了车，等救援人员把他从车中救出时，车已足足烧了20分钟。

His burns disfigured his face so badly that they made fellow diners at his regular restaurant uncomfortable, and he was asked not to come back. Alexander, now 60, retreated to his home, partially¹ blinded and disfigured "like a freak in a sideshow," he said, despite at least 38 surgeries.1

他的面部严重烧伤，每当他去一家过去常光顾的餐馆就餐时，邻座客人都感到难受。于是餐馆谢绝他再去就餐。现年60岁的Alexander只好在家深居简出。他说，尽管至少已做过38次整容手术，但他还是丧失了部分视力，毁掉了容貌，看上去就象马戏团的小丑。

Then Bob Barron stepped into the picture, and gave him back his face.

这时，Bob Barron走进了他的生活，恢复了他的容貌。

Barron, 59, a former disguise expert for the CIA, helps seriously disfigured people blend back into society by designing prosthetic devices that look so real, most people don't notice they're there.2 A painter by training, Barron designs pores, veins² and hair and skin imperfections into his silicone-layered creations - which have included fingers, hands, shoulders, ears and even entire faces. "You have to know how to sculpt," he said. "You have to know chemicals. You have to know how to take impressions."  Margaret Bowden lost her left eye to cancer - including much of the socket³ and surrounding facial area. Casting a mirror image from her good eye, Barron created a prosthetic device that she can pop in whenever she goes out in public. "People don't even know it," Bowden said.

59岁的Barron曾是美国中央情报局的化装师，现在他帮助毁容者重新回归融入社会，设计出的假体惟妙惟肖、真假难辨。作为训练有素的画家，Barron创作了很多硅酮模具来弥补毛孔、静脉、头发和皮肤的缺陷，包括修复手指、手、肩、耳，甚至整张脸。他说："你得会雕塑，懂化学品，你还得会做印模。". Margaret Bowden因患癌症失去了左眼，包括大部分眼窝和周围面部组织。Barron以她健康完好的右眼为模型，为她制作了假体，使她可以随时戴着出门。Bowden说："居然没人看出这是假眼。"

Eight-year-old Brittany Hoyle was born without an ear. Now, even her father has trouble noticing. "He says, 'Which ear is it?'" she said. "I see two ears when I look in the mirror.3"

8岁的Brittany Hoyle出生时就少一只耳朵，现在就连她父亲都难辨她双耳的真伪。 "他说：'哪只耳朵是假的？'" Brittany说，"照镜子时我看到的是与正常人一样的两只耳朵。"

Kelly Green, an athletic⁴ 18-year-old college freshman⁵ when she was diagnosed with cancer, eventually lost a large portion of her shoulder and surrounding bone and muscle. To compensate⁶, she started to walk differently, and began damaging her posture⁷. Then Barron designed a shoulder.

Kelly　Green被诊断为癌症时，她还是一位体魄健壮、芳龄18的大学一年级新生，后来，她失去了大部分肩部和周围的骨骼、肌肉。因此，她走路的样子、姿势都有了变化。后来，Barron为她做了一个假肩。

"It just looked like I was 18 again, before the cancer," she said. "He ended up with something that was breathable on the underneath⁸ side. It had my missing clavicle in it and everything. It looks spectacular."

"现在我看上去又象是18岁的人了，和患癌症前的我一样，"她说。"他用一些通气的材料垫在下面，代替缺损的锁骨和其他部分，看上去真是妙极了。"

Barron donated his skills - which normally cost $6,000 or more - to help a pregnant Pakistani woman whose husband, a barber, disfigured her face and blinded her with a straight razor in a jealous rage. As part of a surgical⁹ team, Barron helped give Zahida Parveen prosthetic eyes, ears, and a nose. Months later, the procedure was complete, and she returned to Pakistan.

Barron的整形收费标准一般在6000多美元，但他无偿地用自己的技能帮助了一位巴基斯坦孕妇，这位孕妇的丈夫是一位理发师，一次他因嫉妒怒伤妻子，用折叠式剃刀毁掉了妻子的面容，弄瞎了她的双眼。Barron是外科手术小组的成员，他给Zahida Parveen戴上了精制的双眼、双耳和鼻部假体。数月后，整个整容手术完成了，她回到了巴基斯坦。

"She can't see it, obviously," said Nassim Ashraf, who worked with Parveen's case for a Pakistani human rights group. "But she then tells me what others have been telling her about her face. And she says, 'Well, you know, someone came to me and said that I look exactly like I did when I got married.' So, that must obviously make her feel very, very happy."

巴基斯坦人权组织负责处理Parveen案子的Nassim Ashraf说："显然她无法亲眼目睹这一切，但她告诉我人们对她容貌的评论。她说：'你知道，有人过来对我说，我看起来与结婚时一样。'显然这使她感到非常非常幸福。"

Barron got into his profession almost by accident. He worked at the Pentagon as an art director for some Navy magazines. It was a low-level job and he got a low-level parking pass, far away from the Pentagon building.

Barron干上这行几乎是出于偶然。以前他在五角大楼工作，为一些海军杂志做艺术指导，这是一种低级的工作，所以他只能拿到一张车位远离五角大楼的低级停车证。

"I forged a parking sticker and I parked where the admirals and the generals [park] … so I wouldn't have to walk 15 minutes through the snow," Barron said.

Barron说："我伪造了一张停车证，挤进了上将、将军们的车位，这样我就不用踏着积雪走15分钟才能进大楼了。"

He got caught and summoned to court, where the judge wanted to know where he got his parking pass.

后来他被发现了，遭到了法庭的传讯，法官想知道他是从哪儿弄到这张停车证的。

"I said, 'I made it, your honor,'" Barron said. "He said, 'Approach the bench.'… So I got right up next to him and he said, 'Damn good job.'"

"我回答说：'是我自己做的，法官先生。'法官说：'上法官席这儿来。'……于是我走上前去，他对我说：'做得真像。'"

He later got a call from the CIA, which was looking for a forger¹⁰. Barron believes the judge recommended him. The agency soon moved him from forgery¹¹ to disguises - like mustaches and wigs¹², which were fairly crude back then in the 1960s. Barron studied Hollywood make-up techniques, and his creations became more sophisticated.

后来，中央情报局要找造假者就给他打了电话，Barron相信是那位法官推荐了他。不久，中央情报局不再让他造假，而改搞化装，如假胡子、假发，早在20世纪60年代这些东西的制作相当粗糙。Barron研究了好莱坞的化妆技巧，业务渐渐成熟。

When he retired¹³ from the CIA after 24 years, rather than seeking a job among Hollywood makeup¹⁴ artists, Barron decided¹⁵ to help people, "giving them back their identity."4

24年后他从中央情报局离任时，他没有去好莱坞当一名化妆师，而是选择了帮助普通人，"帮助他们找回自己。"

A prosthetic face allows burn victim Jim Alexander to go out in public without worry. Jim Alexander was perhaps Barron's toughest case. After retreating into his Petersburgh, Indiana home, Alexander, his vision fuzzy, spent his time checking his mail with a magnifier or listening to The History Channel or books on tape. His daughters helped take care of him, paying his bills, buying his groceries and keeping him company.

烧伤病人Jim Alexander戴着面具出门在外毫无顾虑。Jin Alexander也许是Barron最棘手的病例。在Indiana州Petersburgh市家中深居简出的Alexander视力模糊，成天拿个放大镜查看信箱，听听历史频道或书的录音带，以此来消磨时光。他女儿帮忙照顾他，为他付账单、购买日常用品，陪他作伴。

"I feel like a prisoner in my own home," he said, before getting his new face. "I stand outside and I can hear the traffic go by. And I can hear the power plant over there where I worked. And I think back the people I worked with. And you just feel like you're stopped and the world's going around you."

整容前，他说："我觉得在家里就象是坐牢一样，站在外面我还能听到来往车辆行人从身边经过，能听到原先我工作的发电厂的机器声，会想起以前的同事。这时候，你就感到自己的生活停滞不前了，而周围的世界还在转动。"

Barron had to build an entire face and hair from photos of Alexander's old face, and suspend it above his fragile skin grafts¹⁶.

Barron必须根据Alexander的老照片为他恢复整个面部和毛发，并把它戴在他新移植的、尚且脆弱的皮肤上。

The result? Everything's not perfect. Jim can't move the mouth of his mask. He doesn't have enough muscle in his lips. But other than that …"You don't get much better than that," said Alexander's son-in-law, Bill, as he saw the mask for the first time.

结果如何呢？并非一切都尽如人意。Alexander面具的嘴部无法张合，他嘴唇上没有足够的肌肉。但除此以外，……"这已经是好得不能再好了，"Alexander的女婿Bill第一次看到这面具时这样说道。

A trial run in public went well, with nobody appearing to notice Alexander's mask, Barron said. Soon, Alexander was able to visit his former work.

Barron说，出门试用的效果也很好，没人注意到Alexander戴着面具，Alexander又能到以前工作单位转转了。

Just a few weeks ago, Alexander underwent another operation. He now has near-perfect vision in one eye, which means he was able to see the mask and, for the first time, the faces of two grandchildren, born since his accident.

就在几周前，Alexander又做了一次手术。现在他有一只眼的视力几乎完好无损，这样他就可以亲眼看到面具，也是第一次可以亲眼看见他出事后出生的两个孙儿的面容了。

He said the mask was even better than he had hoped for. He now goes out in public, and makes regular trips to a local coffee shop with his friends. And Barron has made him a second mask that covers only the upper portion of his face- so he can drink coffee.

他说这面具比他期望的要好。现在他能出门了，经常与朋友一起去当地的一家咖啡店。Barron又为他做了第二副面具，这副面具只罩住他面部的上半部--这样他就能喝咖啡了。