Surgeon prepares to reconstruct face
A surgeon preparing to reconstruct the face of an Invercargill woman who has endured decades of bullying and stares says he is full of admiration for her.
Southern District Health Board head and neck surgeon Matthew Leaper will lead a team of two other surgeons, two anaesthetists and at least a dozen nurses in what will be a 12-hour operation on the face of Christine Brown.
Brown was born with neurofibromatosis which causes multiple tumours to grow on nerves in her body, including her face. When aged 7, a massive tumour dragging down her face was operated on for the first time.
Now 54, she has endured 16 facial operations since, but none have been successful in lifting the right side of her face.
However, Leaper and his team of specialists are planning to rectify that. If successful, the surgery would lift the right side of Brown’s face, rectify her hearing and fix issues with her eye. ‘‘We need to do something because she’s lost muscle support and structure on the right side of her face, things are falling south, effectively.’’ Brown is missing part of her right cheekbone and jaw and her face has continued to sag over the decades because nothing is holding it up.Her right ear canal needs shortening so she can hear in that ear again, and her eyelid needs lifting.
He had spoken with Brown about the options available to the surgeons and was impressed with her attitude. ‘‘She’s a very courageous and pragmatic lady who has been through a lot ... we could all learn a lot from her.’’
The work would be done in about three separate surgeries, with one option to remove bone from Brown’s fibula bone, beside her calf muscle, and shape it into a cheek bone. ‘‘We would take the [piece of leg bone] with its artery and vein and connect it to the artery and vein in her neck so that piece of bone has a blood supply.’’
Brown, a married mother of three, said she hoped the surgery would make her face look ‘‘symmetrical’’, but was realistic.
‘‘Even if they can only lift the ear up and it sits there permanently so my glasses sit on my face, I will be more than happy.’’