A Poignant Case

  Lakpat's repaired nose 
  Originally uploaded by interplast

Dehradun, India -- Tim Sproule, volunteer plastic surgeon 
February 11: It is now Monday afternoon.  The trip is half over, and we have gelled together as a group quite well.  There have been a few minor GI upsets amongst the team, but nothing that has impaired our ability to perform.

Today we operated on one of the most poignant cases of the trip, Lakpat, who had been attacked by a rat virtually while suckling at his mother's breast when he was just five days old.  He lost a large part of his nose.  He is only one month old.

We performed yet another unique operation for him: a midline forehead flap, which seems to have reconstructed the defect well. He is the youngest patient I have ever performed surgery on during a trip, and by far the youngest for whom I have ever utilized a forehead flap.