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The Resurrection of Amalia Mendoza - Day 2

Nurses prepare Amalia Mendoza for a surgery to anchor titanium bolts with magnets on the end into her skull. This was done so her new prosthetic face, also fitted with magnets on the inside, could be taken off when she wanted but otherwise would be securly attached to her. Greg Kahn/Staff

Photo by GREG KAHN

Nurses prepare Amalia Mendoza for a surgery to anchor titanium bolts with magnets on the end into her skull. This was done so her new prosthetic face, also fitted with magnets on the inside, could be taken off when she wanted but otherwise would be securly attached to her. Greg Kahn/Staff

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  • Dr. Raymond Peters, left, inspects a facial prosthetic that Dr. David Trainer was working on for Amalia Mendoza. Greg Kahn/Staff
  • Rocio Villa, center, leads Amalia Mendoza through their hotel room in Naples as Antonio watches TV. Mendoza was in town to have a prosthetic face made for her by one of the worlds best known doctors in the field. Greg Kahn/Staff
  • Nurses prepare Amalia Mendoza for a surgery to anchor titanium bolts with magnets on the end into her skull. This was done so her new prosthetic face, also fitted with magnets on the inside, could be taken off when she wanted but otherwise would be securly attached to her. Greg Kahn/Staff
  • Amalia Mendoza is wheeled to the operating room at Physicians Regional Medical Center in Naples. Greg Kahn/Staff
  • Amalia Mendoza has the magnets attached to her skull in surgery. David Trainer, who was making her prosthetic face, wanted to have 10 magnets placed, but since the bone in her head was left very brittle from the accident, the surgeon was only able to put in five. Greg Kahn/Staff
  • Surgery is wrapped up on Amalia Mendoza. Originally David Trainer wanted 10 to 12 screws implanted, but since Mendoza doesn't have much tissue and the bone is brittle, only five screws could be placed. Greg Kahn/Staff
  • Heidi, of Heidi's Hair Clinic in San Francisco, brushes a custom prosthetic hair piece for Amalia Mendoza as her transformation nears completion. Greg Kahn/Staff
  • After weeks of making Amalia Mendoza's prosthetic, David Trainer paints the final details into the silicon skin to help it blend to the rest of Mendoza's face. 'I push myself, I want to make the perfect prosthesis,' Trainer said. 'It's out there, it's the Holy Grail of what we do.' Greg Kahn/Staff
  • Seeing her mother for the first time with a temporary prosthesis over her face made by Dr. David Trainer, Rocio Villa is overcome with emotion. Greg Kahn/Staff
  • Dr. David Trainer, center, performs a impromptu dance for Rocio Villa, left, and Amalia Mendoza, right, at his office in Naples after finishing the new face for Mendoza. Greg Kahn/Staff
  • Dr. Steven Laquis is greeted by Antonio, Amalia's Son, as he gets a first look at the new face of Amalia Mendoza. Greg Kahn/Staff
  • Amalia Mendoza, center, wearing her new face for the first time, is accompanied by her daughter Rocio, left, and financial consultant for the surgeon Betsy Torres-Alicea, right, after leaving the surgeon's office to show off her new look. The first question Mendoza asks everyone she meets is how does her face look. 'They say I look pretty, totally transformed, almost the way I used to look before the accident,' Mendoza said. Greg Kahn/Staff

The story of Amalia Mendoza who lost her face in a car accident in May 2001, and came to Naples, Fla. to have a prosthetic face made for her by David Trainer, one of the world's leading prosthetic makers.

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