People get facial surgery all the time to change their nose or lift their chins. But some people don't redo their faces because of vanity. They do it because a part of their face is actually missing.

Video: Face Prosthetics Give New Life
Unfortunately, thousands of people every year live with cancer, gunshot wounds or other severe injuries that leave a major deformity on their face.

There is a team of artists at the Washington University School of Medicine who rebuild confidence by rebuilding faces. They let people put their best face forward.

"In the society that we live in, people are so in tune to beauty," said Ann Vitale.

That is why Vitale considers her job so important. She designs and paints prosthetics that give cancer patients and gunshot victims a new face.

Dr. Donald Gay sees about eight patients a day. He constructs the prosthesis -- an eye, ear or a nose -- by making a reverse copy of the undamaged section of the face.

"We make the impression, then bring it back and the technician pours a model that's an exact duplicate of the patient's face into the impression," Gay said.

He then hands the prosthesis over to Vitale, who creates wrinkles and veins with some paint and a Q-tip.

"I do it because it's a rewarding type of profession. It's something that gives back to people," Vitale said.

Jean Cohen lost her entire ocular orbit to cancer. She admitted that she was more worried about what she would look like than her brush with death.

"I said, 'I've got eight grandchildren that have to look at me. We're not going to do that,'" Cohen said.

But she did do it and a new eye soon followed.

"I said, 'It's never gonna look like my face, never gonna work.' And then, when they popped it in, I said, 'Wow, that looks good. That looks real good,'" Cohen said.

Cohen said that she is thankful she can look her grandchildren in the eye and that they can look at her without getting scared.

The prostheses are made of silicone and the goal is to make them unnoticeable to the casual observer from three to six feet away. A few of the prostheses snap on but most are held on by medical adhesive.

Also, they aren't cheap, costing between $2,500 and $7,500 a piece. The pieces are usually not covered by insurance.