Plastic Surgery – a Boon for Cancer Patients

This is a story of an old fellow from Palanpur, referred to our department for further management. He was operated for oral cancer in another hospital in Ahmedabad but experienced complications during the plastic surgery process at the same hospital.

He was suffering from lower jaw cancer and post the procedure plastic surgery becomes a must. If not done properly, one can face lifelong difficulty in chewing food, speaking properly and even affecting the appearance.

Our department has the credibility of bringing about a revolution in plastic surgeries for cancer patients across India. This is what when complications arose in that hospital, its operating surgeon who was well aware of our capabilities, referred this patient to us straight away without any delay. After diagnosing the patient, we discussed all possible outcomes and complications as he was already operated few days back. Reason being that the previously operated patients come with a distorted anatomy hence such cases become more difficult to operate.

The patient was very upset about his condition as the disfigured face was hurting his self-esteem, plus neither could he chew properly nor speak properly. It was a herculean task, but over a few meetings the patient posed faith in us and became ready for another complex microvascular reconstructive surgery. Herein the patient’s jaw bone needed to be renewed from his leg bone. We accepted this challenging task. Surgery was planned and we took his vascularized leg bone and transplanted over the face to make a new jaw so he could chew his food again. It took more than 6 hours and surgery completed successfully! After 5 days we discharged him and gave him necessary advice. Over time, he healed completely and became able to smile back and enjoy his favourite dishes.

His son was very happy with overall outcome. He came in routine follow ups and recently he visited us after a year of Surgery. He was very happy, and we could sense that he was very much satisfied with his new look. His speech and swallowing power were restored completely back to normal. This is how Plastic Surgery is needed in most of the cases of oral cancers and if done properly by an experienced Plastic surgeon, it can prevent patients’ life from becoming miserable.