Sunday May 1, 2016
Unique surgery:Mohamed Ahmed Ulsow with doctors at Sunshine Hospitals in the city.— Photo: By Arrangement
Doctors at Sunshine Hospitals operate on Mohamed Ahmed Ulsow, who had his jawbone ripped off in a bomb blast back at MogadishuA group of city-based surgeons quite literally put the foot of a Somali man into his mouth.
Twenty-one-year-old Mohamed Ahmed Ulsow was at work in Mogadishu, when a bomb went off outside his window on December 19 last.The explosion ripped off nearly three-quarters of his lower jawbone, called mandible, leaving him unable to eat, speak or even swallow.
Doctors there sutured the skin to stop bleeding, but could not fix his jaw. Unable to find an expert willing to treat him, he arrived at Sunshine Hospitals in the city in February this year.
Maxillofacial surgeon Dinesh Sharma and his team at the hospital were uncertain if they should operate on the man.
“He was all of 21 and dependent on nasal feeding. We wanted to help but were uncertain. We then decided it was worth the challenge,” Dr. Sharma said. After numerous 3D scans, model reconstructions of the face and 15 days of planning, it was decided that his left fibula, a bone in the leg, would become the makeshift jaw. Mr. Ulsow went under the knife last month and emerged with a new jaw after nine hours on the operating table. “We were not sure if residual blood vessels extracted with the fibula would supply the jaw after the procedure. When we saw that supply was established, we discharged him,” Dr. Sharma added.
Mr. Ulsow is now able to operate his ‘jaw’ and can eat. He was in Hyderabad last week, narrating to his doctors how the reconstruction has helped him find lost acceptance in his social circles. In six months, Mr. Ulsow would be able to tolerate dental implants that would restore to his jaw functionality of chewing, Dr. Sharma added.