Summer 1997

Bill Rogers, research instructor in rehabilitation medicine, controls a laser as it rotates inside a metal drum and communicates the exact dimensions of Eloise Gonzales' remaining left leg to the computer. The laser can detect changes too small to be noticed by the human eye, including shrinkage of the limb, which occurs naturally over time. Mrs. Gonzales returns to the lab every year or so to get a new leg, as the old one wears and her remaining leg tissue shrinks around the bone. Armed with the new data, the prosthetics lab can create a new leg that exactly matches her remaining limb.

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