NEW FACES FOR OLD.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16412, 4 January 1919, Page 3

NEW FACES FOR OLD.

TRIUMPHS OK SURGERY. No greater surgical triumph has been achieved in this war than that which is being accomplished in plastic surgery. At a hospital in England,'to which all cases of "faco disfigurement caused by , wounds are sent, results aro being obtained which to a layman are miraculous. It is literally true to.say that, the surgeons and their staffs there are supplying new faces for old. They are furnishing new features where the old features have been iilown away or so mutilated as to make the unlortunato soldier unrecognisable. These aro no artificial masks, no false features; with scarcely an exception tho new faee is composed of bono and flesh transposed from adjacent uninjured parts or removed from tho body and grafted on. A soldier comes to tho hospital somioj in limb and in good health, but very badiv disfigured. His case looks hopeless/ But hi two or thref) months he leaves with signs of the mutilation gone, save perhaps for a slight scar. He may be, as sometimes happens, better looking than lie was before ho was injured. Here is a typical bad case which has been successfully treated. The soldier in question had practically the whole of the left side of his face destroyed by a gun-shot wound, so that half of the nose, tho left cheek, the left o 1 j the mouth, and the lid of the left eye had to be renewed. j

As in most of the cases, a plaster cast was taken of the whole face, as well as a photograph. A sketch was also mado of tho face. Then tho surgeon, tho dental surgeon, the dental mechanic,, who all labour in close co-operation, gob to work.

They grew a new eye socket, mended the nose, perfectly built up the cheek, remodelled the- uiouth, and supplied: new ■teeth.' Photographs were taken of different stages ol' the operation, and when the .last picture was developed it showed a face without blemish. In many instances the cartilage was inserted in the patient's forehead before being placed in position for a new nose. In a difficult ease, where part of'tie lower portion of tho face was gone, a flap was taken from "the soldier's scalp and grafted on tho damaged chin. He has now got a perfectly presentable chin and mouth. New lips aTe a problem, move especially the red lining, but it has been overcome. Even a new jaw has been supplied by removing a piece of "bone from the soldier's leg. It seems tliat the facial surgeon can supply anything new except eyes. They are artificial, but they are wonderful productions, and an artificial eye can be mado to move in unison with the natural eye. Wonderfully ingenious dental work plays a great part in the facial restoration. The new mouth and nose as they grow must be held in position, and tho mechanics make special devices which are fitted on the head in ■ each case. There is no golden rule. Each case is dealt with on its • merits, and new ideas aro constantly bein"- employed. Cases requiring entirely new "treatment are often turning up. The dental surgeries and operating theatres embody mauv of the latest devices, -and anaesthesia has been developed on special lines. The patients themselves are as jolly a company of soldiers a.s can ho found in a military hospital at home or 'abroad. Ao man need leel depressed upon his appearance, ior lie sees men in tho same ■ward .already healed. Th»> men joke about the better-shaped noses they Jiavo grown. If you ask a patient how he is getting on he replies, "The M.O. says I shall bo belter looking when I leave and my wife will b:> jealous." A complete record is made of each case from the time the man is admitted to the timo he leaves the hospital. Tile photographs alono tell a storv of magical healing such, as would • have seemed incredible a few yean* ago.—By H. Russell Staunard in" London "D:snctch."