sedgewina:

Many soldiers came back from the trenches of WWI missing bits of their face. But 1920s society wasn’t the nicest place to look like a gnarled piece of meat, and facial surgery was barely beyond grafting your finger to your nose.

The answer: masks! Sculptors such as Anna Coleman Ladd and Francis Derwent Wood would make new bits of face from copper for these gentlemen, either from life-casts or from photographs. 

The masks were either held in place by string or attached to glasses, and were painted to match the wearer’s skin colour. Things like facial hair and artificial eyes were also added where needed.

Further info

This has nothing to do with comics but it made me think of Richard Harrow from Broadwalk Empire and I thought gracklegrackle would appreciate it.