New York Plastic Surgeon corrects rare deformity in never-done-before procedure
Last week, New York City Plastic Surgeon Dr. Elliott Rose performed the final of seven reconstructive surgeries on 18 year old Alan Doherty of Ireland, who suffered from a rare facial deformity. Dr. Rose was quoted by Fox News' reporter Karlie Pouliot as saying, "This is an operation that hasn't been done before. It took a real team effort."
Dr. Rose described the procedure as "refinement and sculpting surgery" in which Doherty's neck and jaw line were sculpted and his lower lip and teeth were reconstructed. The procedure also called for a temporary denture, fabricated by New York Oral Surgeon, Dr. Alex Greenberg. The temporary denture will ultimately be replaced by a permanent one.
Doherty was born with a rare condition known as otofacial syndrome. The condition is extremely rare--there is only one other known case like it in the world, according to Mount Sinai Medical Center where the surgeries were performed.
According to Dr. Rose, "Most of these kids don't survive because of the inability to breathe and eat properly. It's really the work of the doctors in Ireland that have helped Alan come this far. They were essential in his early life-saving resuscitation and permanently maintaining his breathing and feeding tubes throughout the years."
Rose and his colleagues are uncertain as to the prognosis for Doherty to fully breathe and eat on his own. "We suspect based on what we were able to see that the tongue is so undeveloped it's unlikely at this point that we will be able to restore swallowing and breathing," Rose said. "But we're still hopeful."
Nancy Matthews for Real Beauty News
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