Bikaner: As a result of an animal attack, a 38-year-old man from Bikaner, Rajasthan, received a new face following a series of reconstructive surgeries. In September 2020, a raging bull left him with a mangled face. Karnee Bishnoi, the Operating Head of an FMCG company in the city, was in his vehicle when it was attacked.
According to a press release from Max Saket, the hospital that treated him, Mr Bishnoi had his side window rolled down and slowed down the vehicle to allow the bulls on the road to pass by. At this point, Mr. Bishnoi was attacked by one of the bulls who charged at his face with its horns. As a result of the attack, Mr. Bishnoi lost his right eye and had his nose, lips, and scalp torn to shreds. ‘He was pulled out of the car and thrown onto the road but the bull left him alive,’ the note said. His friend, who was traveling with him, wasn’t as badly hurt and managed to take Mr. Bishnoi and the victim’s sister to a hospital.
However, according to the press release, the extent of the injuries made the hospital in Bikaner uncertain what to do. ‘They managed to stem the bleed with packing and some big sutures but expressed their helplessness to go any further as they lacked the expertise.’
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When he was rushed to the hospital in Saket, doctors were amazed to find that Mr. Bishnoi had managed to survive despite grave injuries. Upon discovering his ‘ventilation tube to be blocked with some material which was found to be his pulverised brain,’ the neurosurgeons and the plastic surgery team were called. The COVID-19 protocol required the surgeons to wear full protective clothing for 10 hours while ‘painstakingly putting together bone, flesh, nose pieces’. In another nine-hour procedure, doctors ‘not only managed to save his life but also restored the face to a human form.’ Following this, Mr. Bishnoi made what was described as an ‘uneventful recovery’ and returned to work.
He underwent second-stage reconstruction surgery four months later. At this time, his right side of the face was ‘completely paralysed with loss of smiling, inability to lift right side eyebrow and forehead and a saddled depressed nose.’ In India for the first time, ‘some ingenious constructive surgery techniques’ such as ‘forehead muscle to muscle neurotisation were performed.
The right eyebrow and forehead were visibly moving by July, and Mr. Bishnoi was ‘getting better every day.’ In addition to this, the hospital noted that his symmetry and facial shape are good as well. He will undergo further surgery in the coming months to improve artificial eyes and scars.
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