Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a condition consisting of repetitive partial or complete pharyngeal collapse while sleeping. This results in fragmented sleep, causing drowsiness during the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Illustrator Alexandra Webber says she sought to \u201cvisualize the movement of air in respiration in order to show this collapse.\u201d Above the sleeping patient Webber referenced the data collected during a sleep test, including oxygen desaturation, sleep disruptions, brain waves, heart rate, and breathing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When composing an image, Webber says she likes to start with a base drawing of the figure and then roughly sketch in the relevant anatomy. Once that anatomy is in place, she says, \u201cyou have a starting place to work out how to show the disruption\u2014in this case, relaxing the tongue and soft palette until they touch the back of the throat. I draw a red circle around my area of focus to make sure it stays prominent over the hours it takes to render the final illustration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you to \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 Alexandra Webber<\/a> is an award winning medical illustrator and owner of DNA Illustrations based in Asheville, NC. This illustration was created for a lead magazine article on obstructive sleep apnea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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