July 18, 2007 10:00 AM PDT
Block compares her natural, right hand to her i-Limb, left hand.
Stuart Mead, CEO of Touch Bionics, said they see two types of patients: those who want their prosthetic hand to look as normal as possible and those who want it to look like it came out of the movie Terminator. For those who prefer a natural-looking hand, Touch Bionics worked with ARTech Laboratories and LivingSkin to create the skin shown here. For those with robotic inclinations, the company makes a semi-transparent skin that accentuates the hand's artificial nature (shown in many of the other photos in this gallery).
The i-Limb Hand isn't cheap. It runs for about $18,000, two to three times more than a traditional myoelectric device. They are available now in some clinics around the U.S. and U.K.
Photo by Touch Bionics
