When it comes to facial reconstruction surgery to heal and correct the skin and bones around your nose, throat and ears, you want the best. Whether due to genetic factors, skin cancer treatment or traumatic injury, damage to your facial features can make you feel very vulnerable.
About 50 years ago, most patients would have skin cancers removed and then told to let their face heal on its own. Today, we know that how you look can affect your quality of life and your overall wellness.
At UVA, we aim to make the signs of surgery as inconspicuous as possible. We put people back on their feet after cancer or trauma and help them move forward.
Facial Reconstruction After Cancer Treatment
Often, after skin cancer removal, your features have lost their normal shape and appearance. Facial reconstruction can put your face back together again.
At UVA, you can trust expertise developed from experience. We do more skin cancer reconstructions than any medical center in the country. And our approach incorporates your needs, understanding that the procedure requires mastery and skill, part science, part art.
Trauma & Healing
Facial Fractures from Trauma
Facial fractures can happen from both simple incidents and major events. You can take an elbow to the nose during a basketball game or get in a car wreck that impacts every bone in your face.
Whatever the scope of your injury, our ENTs will take immediate steps to minimize the damage. We’ll realign bones to reduce the effects of the break. Once the fractures have been put together, we’ll ensure your bones heal in the position that will best restore your function and looks to normal.
The Cutting Edge of Bone Healing
At UVA, we’ve developed very minimally invasive ways of handling complex facial fractures. We use very small, low-profile titanium plates that are mostly invisible. Sometimes, we can use plates and screws that dissolve over time.
We aim to create very strong, rigid bone connections. These not only promote healing, but prevent pain from bones moving.
Beyond the Bones
After surgeons put your bones back together, you will most likely require some amount of facial reconstruction to address visible incisions, cuts and scars on your skin.
At UVA, we see patients from throughout the region. Doctors refer their patients with facial trauma to us because of our experience, the volume of cases we can treat, and our successful outcomes.