A man left with two holes in his face after his battle with skin cancer said he was “astonished” after extraordinary doctors managed to reconstruct his nose using skin from his forehead.
Peter, 74, appeared on Really’s new show The Face Doctors, which follows patients who undergo life-changing surgery and cutting-edge treatment to reconstruct and repair their faces.
In the Pedro program visit experts at Addenbrooke’s Hospital cambridge undergo a complex multi-stage surgery to reconstruct his nose, with the help of a skin flap from his forehead.
Peter was left with two holes in the middle of his face after the tumors were removed and an initial surgery resulted in giving Peter an “elephant trunk” shaped nose due to its shape.
But after meeting consultant plastic surgeon Ahid Abood and undergoing a life-changing second stage of surgery, Peter looked unrecognizable with his new nose and minimal scarring.
Peter, 74, appears on The Face Doctors, where surgeons seek to fix his ‘elephant trunk’ (pictured)
At the end of the show, Peter reveals his new nose with minimal scarring.
Peter said the unusual shape of his “elephant trunk” had affected his confidence and, despite being generally outgoing, he began wearing a cap to hide it.
Speaking before the surgery, he said: ‘They call this an elephant trunk. It’s a very good description of what it is. Although it seems strange, doesn’t it?
‘When I go out I usually wear a cap or a hat that I get quite warm enough to cover my face.
“People are used to seeing people with casts on their limbs, but facial surgery is probably a little different, it’s quite obvious that something has been done to you and you don’t look normal for a while.”
During nasal reconstruction, doctors removed the middle segment of his nose and began shaping it to look more like a nose.
Ahid made repeated incisions to divide the “trunk”, disconnecting the skin bridge and trimming away excess skin, before sewing Peter’s nose back together.
In the initial surgery, doctors removed the skin cancer tumors and removed tissue from his forehead.
They took a piece off his forehead and “placed” it up to his nose, and Peter said that if he touched his nose, he would feel it on his forehead.
Peter is pictured lying in his hospital bed before nose surgery.
Peter undergoes the second stage of complex surgery under the watch of experts at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge.
Doctors made incisions in his nose to divide the ‘trunk’ and create his new nose
Peter had been left with two gaping holes in his nose after damage caused by skin cancer.
Ahid explained: “Peter had a fairly large skin cancer removed from his nose and one way to reconstruct it is to use forehead tissue that folds down to cover the missing part, and maintains a blood supply from the forehead to that point it takes a new supply of blood from the nose.
Peter was first diagnosed with skin cancer after noticing a small spot on his nose that wasn’t “quite right.”
The tumors were removed, but two huge holes were left in his face.
However, the work of Mr Ahid’s team completely transformed his face and a beaming Peter debuted his new nose at the end of the programme.
He said: “I’m delighted with it and it works.” I can smell, I can blow, I can do all the other things you can do with your nose.
‘The way I look now probably exceeds my expectations if I’m honest. I am totally amazed by what you have achieved.
He joked: ‘I think I personally look quite a bit better than before!’
At the end of the program, Peter shows up for a six-week checkup feeling much happier.
‘I’m really impressed, I have to say. It was a bit of a blip in the year, but I came out of one relatively unscathed, so I should be grateful for that.’
Six weeks after life-changing surgery to reconstruct his nose, Peter returned to Addenbrooke’s for a check-up with a brighter step.
Ahid said: “I’m very happy, you know it’s the first thing people see, it’s the center of their face.” It is very important that he is happy with that.”
Joking that he had “not painted in oils before”, the joy was clear on Peter’s face as he showed his gratitude to everyone involved in the process.
Interestingly, one interesting thing Peter noticed after his surgery is that he started shaving his nose.
‘Ironically, the hair coming out of there is much darker than the hair on most of my head!’ he laughs. ‘It’s a cruel twist!’
The Face Doctors: Wednesday, May 15, 9pm, for real and available to stream on Discovery+
The Face Doctors is an all-new series following patients who undergo life-changing surgery and cutting-edge treatment to reconstruct and repair their faces.
From genetic conditions to flesh-eating infections and emergency trauma, Addenbrookes Hospital’s facial specialists deal with some of the most challenging and devastating cases. Their mission: restore identities, repair shattered trust and transform lives.
The surgical team works tirelessly to help their patients, including a teenager with too many broken bones in his face to count after a car accident, a man with a fatal eye infection and a woman who had her head bitten by a dog. nose.
Working alongside the surgeons is the incredible prosthetics team, combining art with science to create extraordinarily realistic noses, eyes, ears and more for patients who need them, including an eye for a man living with a hole in his eye. face and an ear. for a schoolgirl who wants to fit in.
The Face Doctors aired on Wednesday, May 15 at 9pm, really, and is available to stream on Discovery+