Doctors in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, have successfully completed surgeries on a young Emirati male patient to reform his facial deformities.
The 20-year-old patient was suffering from several benign tumours (keratocysts) that damaged his facial bones, causing serious deformity and disability to breathe, speak and eat normally.
Furthermore, it was the only one of its kind case in the world in which doctors used 3D printing to create titanium implants to completely reconstruct his facial bones.
The team of doctors at the Emirates Hospital was directed by Professor Dr Jehad Al Sukhun, who is a specialist oral maxillofacial surgeon.
Dr Sukhun treated the tumour via a series of investigations involving a CT scan, MRI and histopathology biopsies. A sequence of surgeries followed this to extract the tumour and reconstruct the facial bones.
The success of 3D printing in facial reconstruction has opened the door for the launch of techniques to save several cases of bone deformities that further cause tumours.
Dubai has been leading on top in the world in new-age technologies, which also includes the world’s first 3D-printed office.
Dr Sukhun stated, “We have for the first time utilised 3D printing technology to design 3D titanium facial implants to rebuild the defect of the facial bones. The patient healed well with an amazing aesthetic outcome. We live in a new era now.”
He further added that this is the first case all over the world where they successfully used titanium implants to reconstruct the patients’ facial bone defects of this size. As compared to other procedures, this recent technology has saved the patient from taking several soft and hard microvascular flaps/grafts from the abdomen and legs to reconstruct the face, which would have a serious affect on the quality of his life.
This is a major development in the field of medical science.