A man whose face had been horribly disfigured in an accident
this summer underwent the first of what is expected to be a
year-long series of surgical procedures in Xi'an, capital of
Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
Chen Yong, 36, from the suburbs of Chongqing Municipality in Southwest China, was
seriously injured on July 19 while attempting to repair a cement
mixer that was mistakenly turned on.
"Three-fifths of the patient's face were totally destroyed,
while the remaining two-fifths were severely deformed. Only his
left eye and tongue remained intact. He was no longer able to chew,
swallow, speak or breathe freely," said Lei Delin, one of the
surgeons taking part in the operation and the director of the
Maxillofacial Surgery Office at the Oral Hospital of the Fourth
Military Medical University, one of China's leading oral surgery
centers.
Hospital director Zhao Yimin said the operation would proceed in
four steps, which would take about a year to complete.
He Lisheng, one of the lead surgeons taking part in the
operation yesterday, said the surgical team had repaired a fracture
on the left side of Chen's face and other broken bones. The team
also corrected the abnormal width of Chen's face.
"In the following operation, we will repair some defects in the
soft tissue on the right side of his face, as well as damage to his
jaw, eye, nose and maxillary sinuses. This will help him recover
his functions of chewing, swallowing, speaking and breathing," He
added.
The doctor said the surgical team started the procedure at 9:13
AM and took about 8 hours to complete it. "It took two more hours
than we had planned. This was the most complicated operation we had
ever encountered," said He.
During the past four months, the patient breathed through an
oxygen tube inserted in his throat and was also fed through a tube,
Lei said.
"My husband was working as an electrician at the construction
site. On July 19, he was repairing a cement mixer when a worker
mistakenly switched the machine on, seriously injuring my husband's
face," said Li Xiuqing, Chen's wife.
"I took my husband to several hospitals in Chongqing and was
told that there was no hope to save him because the extensive
damage to his face would make it difficult for him to recover his
ability to chew, swallow and breath properly," Li said.
Chongqing's doctors told Li that it would simply be too
difficult to repair her husband's badly damaged face.
"It is really very hard to perform an operation to fix multiple
facial defects at one time. The effort to repair Chen's incomplete
face is the most complex and challenging procedure in the world,"
said Liu Baolin, a maxillofacial surgery expert who took part in
designing the operation plan.
Before yesterday's operation, the hospital had carried out two
successful operations in April and September, respectively, for a
man whose face had been mauled by a bear and a girl who had
suffered from congenital defects in her cheekbones and maxillary
sinuses.
(China Daily November 16, 2006)