Surgeons from Canada, USA reconstruct faces of 26 wounded Ukrainians during 5th Face the Future Ukraine mission

Surgeons from Canada and the USA, together with Ukrainian doctors, during the fifth Face the Future Ukraine mission in Ivano-Frankivsk, performed reconstructive facial surgeries on 26 Ukrainians: military personnel, veterans and civilians who suffered mine and explosive injuries during the war.

According to the mission, organized by the Face the Future Foundation, Still Strong, Razom for Ukraine and the Patients of Ukraine Foundation, the doctors performed, in particular, operations to reconstruct noses, install individual implants instead of destroyed skull bones, prepare eye sockets for prosthetics and reconstruct jaws.

During the mission, Face the Future Ukraine doctors performed 83 surgical interventions.

This time, the youngest patient of the mission was 21-year-old Roman, who joined the army at the age of 18. During the fighting in Kursk, four air bombs exploded near his position. Roman received 20 shrapnel wounds, fragments in the head that shattered the bones of his forehead, miraculously not touching the brain, and a fractured pelvis. Due to the fragments that destroyed the frontal bones, the wound on the boy’s head did not heal for a long time, the brain was no longer protected by bones, and a large depression formed in their place.

The Face the Future Ukraine mission team installed an individual titanium implant in place of the destroyed frontal bones, which protected the boy’s brain from damage and straightened his forehead. In addition to the implant, connective tissue was transplanted so that the titanium would not damage the skin. The intervention lasted four hours and allowed to protect the brain from infections that are in the nose and sinuses.

In total, during five Face the Future Ukraine missions, 160 patients with mine and blast injuries were operated on. Some of the patients require multi-stage interventions, so they are operated on during different missions.

The next Face the Future Ukraine mission is planned for the fall.