The same method may be followed post-operatio. This method can be employed for the other parts of the face as well, as, for instance, the mouth, ears, base of nose, etc.
Distances in measurements should be put into the record drawing to make it more exact.
The Rubber Stamp.—Another method is to make outline sketches of normal parts of the face with India ink upon drawing board and have those reproduced in rubber stamps, using the stamp in place of the stencil and marking in the defect in the manner before mentioned.
The Plaster Cast.—The best method by far, however, and the one found most accurate, is the plaster cast. It is not a difficult thing to make a cast of a nose, eyelid, lip, or ear, and the latter is much more preferable to any other method of record.
For this purpose some modeling clay is required, which is molded into a strip and laid around the part to be reproduced.
This forms a sort of raised ring or border and prevents the overflow of the semiliquid plaster, and avoids the annoyance of trickling the liquid upon other parts of the face about the site of the part worked on; at the same time it permits of neatness and uniformity in the size and shape of the casts to be filed away as records. (See [Fig. 522].)
Fig. 522.—Method of Making Nasal Plaster Cast.
The skin surface, and hair, if any, within this ring area, before using this plaster of Paris, is now thoroughly coated with clean oil, or petrolatum, applied with a soft sable brush. The inner and upper part of the wax ring is also coated.
If there are openings in the parts of the face, such as the nostrils or the auricular orifice, they should be plugged lightly with dry absorbent cotton, care being taken, however, to avoid distending the alæ.