Health : The Atlantic: A Novel New Nose

Health : The Atlantic Health news and analysis on The Atlantic.

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A Novel New Nose Sep 27th 2013, 14:51, by James Hamblin (Stringer/Reuters) I was flipping through the overnight syndicated news images from the AP and Reuters this morning, and this one caught my eye. Probably because the man in the photo does not have a "typical human face." It's an interesting story. Twenty-two-year-old Xiaolian of China's Fujian province injured his nose in a car accident last year, and he didn't get treatment. A subsequent infection ate away the cartilage of his nose. It kept getting worse, and when he did get medical attention, doctors decided he needed a whole new nose. You can't just buy a nose at the store these day, though. (Thanks, Obamacare.) So Chinese surgeons province "grew" this "nose" on Xiaolian's forehead, purposely. The new nose is only there temporarily, until it's ready to be transplanted to middle of his face (the typical place for noses). The surgeons constructed it months ago, after first harvesting some cartilage from between Xiaolian's ribs. They then stretched out the skin on his forehead, and built that skin and cartilage to resemble a human nose. New capillaries grew and incorporated the nose as part of Xiaolian's face. The photo, taken earlier this week, is in preparation for a surgery to transplant the nose to the middle of his face, where nose-typical people have their noses. Surgeons say that will happen soon.  Why did they build the nose in such a conspicuous place? Couldn't they have put it on his forearm, or shoulder, or ... anywhere else? Well, even though this isn't a procedure that's done in the U.S., I know plastic surgeons typically prefer forehead skin for nose reconstruction, just because it's the most similar to the skin on the nose. Also, the surgeons may also be able to keep some of the blood supply going throughout the transplant procedure, which is better than having to completely disconnect the nose. Even if this procedure doesn't catch on, it's success would be an interesting proof of concept. And as to, "does it 'work'"? Where it is now, for olfaction, no. As a conversation starter, I bet yes.

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