In Lviv, within the framework of the third mission of Face to Face plastic and reconstructive surgeons, 32 patients were operated on. Leading American specialists worked together with doctors of the National Rehabilitation Center UNBROKEN of the First Medical Association of Lviv.
Doctors operated continuously for five days in a row, starting at seven in the morning. They worked in four operating rooms at once in several teams. The patients are from all over Ukraine, most of them are military personnel who suffered injuries as a result of the war.
“This mission was extremely important for our medical institution, because it is both about helping patients and about the opportunity for doctors to learn from the best colleagues from the USA. Preparation for the mission lasted three months. All patients who were operated on underwent a very thorough selection: consultations, examination, preparation of an individual treatment plan with 3D modeling and reconstruction,” said the First Medical Association of Lviv.
As Ivanka Nebor, an otolaryngologist, the organizer of the mission and the president of the INgenius medical platform, noted, this mission was the most difficult for American doctors so far. “We chose 8 difficult patients at once and performed unique reconstructive surgeries for them, where we transplant bone from the leg to the face to restore the lost jaw. During the first mission, we performed two such operations, during the second – four, and now – as many as eight,” Ivanka Nebor said.
“I am satisfied because it was an extremely useful experience for both patients and doctors. American colleagues shared with us their experience in microsurgery, and we gave them our experience in operating on mine-explosive facial injuries. In the future, we plan to perform such operations on our own,” said Oleg Kovtunyak, maxillofacial surgeon of the NEZLAMNI center.
A mission of plastic and reconstructive surgeons is already planning to visit in the spring and has even selected several patients for it.
We will remind you that the third Face to Face mission in Ukraine lasted from November 12 to 17. And yesterday, the mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi, met with the American surgeons.
By the way, this humanitarian mission was created in cooperation with the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS) (The Educational and Research Foundation) and Razom for Ukraine and ngenius organizations. During the previous two missions, medics operated on 50 patients, and consulted another 80.