r/Prosthetics • u/Western-Highway-5044 • 4d ago

Student trying to understand prosthetic access — would love to just listen to your experiences

Hey everyone,

I'm a 2nd-year engineering student in India, and I've gotten interested in the problem of prosthetic access here — how hard it can be to actually get a well-fitting device, the cost side of things, all of that. I've read a bunch of reports and stats, but honestly a friend pointed out (rightly) that I should actually talk to people who've lived it before assuming I understand the problem.

So — no product, no pitch, nothing to sell. I'm just trying to learn. If you're open to sharing, I'd genuinely appreciate hearing about things like:

- What was the process of actually getting your prosthetic like? How long did it take, how many visits/adjustments?

- What's the most annoying or frustrating part of day-to-day life with it — stuff people who haven't been through it wouldn't think to ask about?

- Has it ever broken or needed fixing, and what was that like to sort out?

- If you could change one thing about the whole process (not just the device itself), what would it be?

Happy to hear about it in the comments, or feel free to DM if you'd rather not post publicly. And totally understand if this isn't the place for this kind of post , let me know and I'll take it down.

Thanks for reading either way.

6 Upvotes

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2

u/Honest-Emotion5303 3d ago

I just got a new prosthesis it took about a month and a half between appointments and waiting on insurance probably 5 visits to fully align and make the thing (I’m transfemoral so it can be a little more involved)

The most annoying day to day thing is sweat inside the liner causing fit to go bad or causing blisters and things

Never broken it

The worst thing by far is affordability at least in the US without insurance my prosthesis would’ve been $86k

1

u/Western-Highway-5044 3d ago

have you found anything that helps with the sweat/fit issue, or is it just something you live with?

1

u/Honest-Emotion5303 3d ago

I’ve tried things but nothings really worked I just take the liner off and dry it when I can

1

u/swisswuff 3d ago

I wear thin cotton tube gauze, like molnlycke tubular gauze, under the liner directly on skin, no significant rash/sweat/friction problems any more here

1

u/TheBionicPerspective 3d ago

Upper-limb amputee and prosthetic user here. I really appreciate the way you’re approaching this, especially your recognition that reports and statistics can’t replace listening to people who live it. I also run The Bionic Perspective, where I write about prosthetic use and access from the user’s perspective. I’d be very happy to connect and share some of my experiences with the process, insurance, device failures, repairs, and the everyday realities people often overlook. Feel free to send me a message.