For a Former CIA Master of Disguises, An Eye for an Eye
‘When he retired in 1993 after more than 30 years as a disguise specialist for the Central Intelligence Agency, Robert Barron wasn’t ready to stop doing the work he loved. The Bluemont resident founded Custom Prosthetic Designs in Ashburn.
The one-man shop specializes in lifelike silicone prosthetics for people with birth defects or missing features. Barron has sculpted an ear for a 5-year-old born without one, a nose for a cancer survivor and fingers for a survivor of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon.
If his work, shown in before-and-after photos on his Web site, appears startling in its verisimilitude, that’s because Barron worries the details, down to the hairs visible on an ear and the freckles on a nose. “It’s just like in the Agency,” he says. “I wouldn’t issue [agents] a disguise if their life would be in jeopardy” as the result of a less-than-perfect disguise.’
There’s a cool photo gallery also.
