Wax figures show diseases

Dermatology: Moulages depict skin diseases for educational purposes

04/03/2015

In order to reproduce diseases such as syphilis, plague or leprosy, so-called moulages are made. These are models of diseased body region made of wax. Until the middle of the 20th century, they served as the most important educational tool in dermatology. With the spread of color photography, however, they lost importance. By now, most models are in museums. But they also gain importance again in teaching. The news agency „dpa“ spoke to the medical taxidermist Navena Widulin about the production of the special wax figures.

Wax mollages form diseased or injured body parts
Whether heads, hands or feet - Navena Widulin uses corpses or living models as a template to create deceptively real wax figures. The medical taxidermist, whose task is to dissect corpses, was made aware of the moulages by the director of the Berlin Museum of Medical History of the Charité (BMM) about ten years ago. Widulin was thrilled with the elaborate and filigree wax models, so she decided to learn how to moult.

„This is the foot of a friend, "said the 42-year-old in a conversation with the news agency, pointing to a black plate. „She likes to wear high-heeled shoes and has pronounced hallux valgus. "This refers to a misalignment of the big toe in which the big toe bale on the inner edge of the foot usually emerges clearly in the form of a bump.The moulage made it for an exhibition on the history of the shoe.

Moulages are produced consuming
Most of the wax models that the expert makes are to be sent to a teaching collection for students. This is why Widulin often moulps surgically modified parts of the body. In addition, forensic cases are reproduced, such as the upper body of a woman in which a knife is inserted. The medical taxidermist therefore works closely with pathologists.

In addition, Widulin exchanges with make-up artists. „They ask me what dead spots or a bog body look like. I ask for the technique. That's how I came up with the special silicone that I use to make the skin impressions. "To stabilize the silicone impression, she uses plaster, then the silicone mold is poured out with hot wax to create the most realistic color possible for the moulage to add oil paint to the wax. „Many say, 'You are an artist!' I feel like a craftsman, "Widulin says, and finally the shape is gossamer-thin from light to dark with a glaze paint. „Moulages are in between. They look real, but they are not. "

Old molluscs usually emit skin diseases such as syphilis or plague
Most old moulages, which were made after 1850, mainly show skin diseases, because exemplary patients were missing in the classroom. Using the models, the teachers were nevertheless able to communicate well how the disease in question appears. Also eye diseases were presented with moulages, as exhibited in the Berlin Museum. In total, there are 17 collections of Moulagens in Germany, which usually show diseases such as smallpox, atopic dermatitis or weeping eczema. Many of the models are still up to date, such as those that represent infectious diseases. Many of them were long since extinguished, but are now on the rise again. These include, for example, syphilis, which has been more common in Germany since 2001, as the Robert Koch Institute informs.

The Bonn University Department of Dermatology stores many moulages that show changes in the skin caused by syphilis. „Nowadays, syphilis is not that crass, "says Béatrice Bieber, curator of the collection, to the news agency, who points to an (almost) painless ulcer with a hardened border at the point where the bacteria enter the In the further course of the pathogens can spread throughout the body and infect the organs.

Moulages can be used to explain diseases independently of the patient
With the moulages illnesses without affected patients could be shown and explained, reports Bieber. „People understand what a destiny is behind it. For skin diseases stigmatize, even today. "In Bonn, too many patient records are available for many of the wax models. „A patient history always touches, "continues Bieber. „But if there are 100 years in between, it has another charm. "