However, Sauser continued, “It has become a lot more acceptable to have a prosthetic leg. A lot of people are proud to show it, show that they’re able to overcome so many obstacles and get up and walk. They’re making a statement, to a certain extent.”
Does customizing cost extra?
“No,” he said. “It makes my job more interesting.”
Some patients are sports fans who are willing to go out on a limb, you might say, to show their loyalties.
“Here in town, we get a lot of Oregon Ducks and Seahawks and Trail Blazers,” Sauser said. “A lot of times, we’re using colors, not licensed logos. We can add pigments to resins to make all kinds of specialty colors.”
And if a prosthetics user does want to sport an actual team logo, they’re available anywhere. It just means buying a team T-shirt and wearing it on your leg: a portion of the shirt, anyway.
“Sometimes, it’s taking a T-shirt and cutting out the logo and putting it on the limb.”
That works for a lot of customized images. Rather than painting something on the limb, “We’re taking something that already exists,” Sauser said.
Like that elk, for example.
“That’s a fabric we get from a fabric shop,” he said. “The options are limitless.”
There are some familiar themes, in addition to sports.
“We do a lot of patriotic-theme legs, and camouflage legs,” Sauser said. “All that is very popular.”
Sauser does have some advice, however.
“If you put something on a leg — just like with a tattoo — you’re stuck with it for a while.”
Off Beat lets members of The Columbian news team step back from our newspaper beats to write the story behind the story, fill in the story or just tell a story.
