What's New at AIMS > Yan Zhen's Face Reconstruction

Head & Neck Institute Gives Yan Zhen a New Face

26 July, 2004 -With a smile her face and a spring in her step, Yan Zhen (Ellen), along with her mother Ma Yu Fang, boarded a plane to China today, thanking Kochi and the AIMS Head and Neck Institute for helping her leave behind seven long years of pain and a long battle with tumour and related deformities.

Twenty-eight year-old Ellen arrived in Kochi on February 29 after a series of surgeries in New York and Shanghai failed to recreate her face damaged by a tumour.

She had lost her left eye, cheekbone and part of the upper jaw. Eight plastic surgeries could not bring the smile back to the once pretty face.

About a year later the tumor recurred at the previous surgical. She underwent further extensive surgery in China in August 1998. This involved removal of her left eye and cheekbone. During this procedure the nerve which moves the lips and face also had to be sacrificed. An attempt was made to reconstruct the face using a muscle from the back and using titanium plates. After the surgery she also received radiation therapy for a month.

Over the next two years, the titanium plate was rejected and her face gradually became deformed. Additional operations in 2000 and 2001 were conducted to replace the titanium plates with Medapor (synthetic bone) in the deficient upper jaw. Unfortunately, the Medpore became infected and had to be removed. Further plastic surgery attempts to reconstruct the face were unsuccessful.

She therefore approached Dr. Moni Abraham Kuriakose, who was at that time working in New York University Medical Center. With the support of a missionary group, Ellen traveled to New York for further reconstructive surgery. In April 2003, a team led by Dr. Kuriakose performed first of a planned multi-stage operation in New York. This involved transfer of abdominal wall to the face using microsurgery techniques.

Ellen decided to come to AIMS for further reconstructive procedures. By the time Ellen arrived at AIMS the swelling on the left side of her face had increased dramatically.

A team from the Head and Neck Institute led by Dr. Moni Abraham Kuriakose and Dr. Subramanya Iyer performed four surgeries. They filled the hollow of her face, outlined her eyebrow and attached a fibre to the corner of her mouth to make her smile symmetrical. The highlight of the procedure was the reconstruction of the eye, complete with new upper and lower eyelids and eyelashes. The man behind Yan's new pair of eyes was Dr. Jijo Paul.

"We had to redo the creation of eye-socket procedure a couple of times to get back to a normal shape," said Dr. Mony Abraham Kuriakose.

Dr. Sherry Peter, Dr. Mohit Sharma and Dr. Sasidharan were also part of the medical team from the Head and Neck Institute. During her six months stay in Cochin, she and her mother initially stayed at a rented flat in the heart of Ernakulam for a month, but they could not cope with the alien language and life, so AIMS officials provided them with lodging facilities. Her treatment was funded by an evangelical group from New York.

Ellen is now free of tumour as well as the stigma associated with the treatment of cancer.

Yan Zhen, who once aspired to be a model, hopes to get her former job in a hotel. She should; the winner that she is - against the odds.