Assembling a body begins with artificial tissues. These are made of different combinations of water, salt, and fibers, such as nylon or cotton. Varying the proportion of each ingredient changes a tissue’s properties. “For example, more water makes it softer, but if you add more fiber, the tissue becomes more dense,” says Christopher Sakezles, SynDaver’s founder and president.
The company has invented more than 100 different kinds of fake flesh. “We can mimic everything from the mucus in your nose to the marrow inside your bones,” says Sakezles. By adding tissues in layers, like papier- mâché, technicians sculpt organs, muscles, bones, and blood vessels. These designs can be quite complex. “There are seven different materials that go into just making an artery,” says Sakezles.
Once all the parts are complete, a team stitches them together. “We sew from the inside out, starting with the bones of the skeleton,” says Sakezles. “Then the muscles go on, then the organs and the circulatory system, and finally the skin.” The whole process takes about three weeks.
The finished cadavers look so lifelike that they’re often mistaken for the real thing. “Once, a surgeon told me that if he closed his eyes and put his hands on the model, he wouldn’t know the difference between it and a real person,” says Sakezles. He has seen a range of reactions. “A lot of people are frightened. Some actually throw up.”
But Sakezles isn’t scared by his creations. “I think their accuracy makes them beautiful,” he says.