Anaplastology — part art, part science — gives features a do-over

John Haley laughed softly and smiled as he looked into a mirror to see his new nose.

An anaplastologist, Maddie Singer, at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Dentistry, applied finishing touches on Tuesday to the silicone nose that restores Haley’s profile.

Held in place with magnets, the new nose won’t get the double takes that Haley, a 42-year-old chef at Downtown’s Bardog Tavern, has endured.

“Kids are the funniest, they hold nothing back, they always want to know, ‘What’s up with that?’” he said.

Anaplastology is considered both an art and a science of replacing parts of the body — mostly eyes, ears and noses — with artificial parts known as prosthetics.

Singer said she first honed her skills working on special effects in Hollywood, after graduating from New York University film school in 1990.

“The Addams Family” was the first film that included her work, she said. Others ranged from “Leprechaun” movies to “XFiles,” “Stargate” and “Star Trek Nemesis.”

Singer said she financed a career switch to Memphis about 14 years ago with money from a silicon modeling compound she made called Third Degree. It was a first for the film industry, but she didn’t have the money to patent it, she said.

“You know the Joker’s scars in the original with Batman, with Heath Ledger?” Singer said. “They were done out of that product.”

After a year at the Memphis College of Art, Singer has been restoring the appearance of patients. Cancer often causes the damage.

“I do nose and ears quite a bit,” she said. “Skin cancer is very prevalent.”

Horseplay in 2007 fractured bones in Haley’s face and left him with a nose permanently pushed in. With no health insurance until recently, it has stayed that way.

Singer said she had met Haley years ago and knew he was a candidate for her skills, but thought the time was right after Haley landed a role in the “Million Dollar Quartet” television series filmed this year in Memphis.

A chance meeting with the executive producer of the series at Bardog led to his role in a fight scene in the fifth episode of the upcoming series, Haley said. “I do the punishing.”

Magnets — on the silicone nose and on plastic that is glued to Haley’s face with medical adhesive — hold his new nose in place. Singer’s supplies and tools included different colors of stain, atomized sugar and a toaster oven for the finishing touches.

The prosthetics normally last about two to five years, she said. Haley provided a photograph of himself in his 20s for his new addition and, like her other patients, will return for a replacement.

Haley described his new nose as “amazing” and “unbelievable,” and said “everything looks super real.”

Singer advised him to wear glasses to add to the realistic look. She also had ready answers to all questions. What about sneezing? “Hold your nose,” she said.