#AHT: New life after maxillofacial surgery at American Hospital Tbilisi!

This unique operation was performed by Dr. Vano Saparishvili, Head of the Maxillofacial Surgery Department of American Hospital Tbilisi. A man who, after a tragic accident, broke all the bones of his jaw and face and damaged soft tissues, recovered after the operation and returned to his usual rhythm of life.

– Dr. Vano, what operation was performed on the man you gave a new life to?

– The injury was received during physical work. It was a terrible sight – no soft tissue was left on his face, and the bones of his face were crushed. He was in a critical condition, hemodynamics was also unstable, however, as a result of resuscitation measures, his hemodynamic condition stabilized. Through the CT scan, we saw what kind of injuries he had received. In my 25 years of practice, I have not encountered injuries of this complexity. We made the decision to have an immediate surgical intervention, although this was also risky because we would have caused more bleeding…

The operation lasted for 12 hours. During the operation, we separated the soft tissues of the face from the hard tissues, starting from the frontal bone and ending with the facial bones – we restored all the bones with plates and screws, we brought the lower jaw into occlusion with the upper jaw, which means that the patient should be able to speak normally and be able to eat well. The operation was successful and we brought this man back to life. The disappointing thing is that he lost his left eye on the spot, although he is physically healthy, works and continues his life in a normal rhythm.

– Is it impossible to restore the eye?

– We went through this issue together with ophthalmic surgeons and so far, observation is needed. At this stage, the eye muscles should relax.

– Have you been able to restored his teeth?

– Of course. The patient has partial edentia, which means that due to the injury, the teeth were lost, but in the oral cavity – on the lower and upper jaw, teeth are planned to be implanted. However, this also takes some time.

– Did this person’s appearance change after the operation?

– No, it is very close to its old appearance. Whether it is maxillofacial surgery, orthopedics, or neurosurgery, if you approach the work professionally, you will achieve the set goal as much as possible. The result of the operation exceeded the patient’s expectations and he could not hide his excitement.