Posted on 07/14/2019 2:07:55 PM PDT by DFG
Pvt. Shamika Burrage lost her entire left ear during a car accident on her way to visit family in Texas, says a report from the U.S. Army. The soldier needed counseling to deal with her emotions after the accident, including dealing with discontentment about the way she looked.
At the urging of her counselor, Burrage looked into plastic surgery for the missing ear. That’s when she found surgeons at William Beaumont Army Medical Center (WBAMC) who had a radical idea.
The medical team wanted to use cartilage from Burrage’s ribs to form a new, non-artificial ear. The ear would then need to “grow” under the skin of the soldier’s arm before transplanting could take place.
According to Lt. Col. Owen Johnson III, chief, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, he saw that Burrage had “her whole life ahead of her.” Young soldiers like her deserve the best option they can get, Johnson stated in the U.S. Army report.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
An interview with the young woman and her doctor. I can’t imagine the wonderful things we’ll be able to do in the future:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcUqajT1Gbg
They keep saying she lost her ear but in fact she only lost her outer ear. All of her hearing mechanisms were functioning properly.
A decade or so ago they grew a human outer ear on the back of a mouse.
Still an interesting accomplishment
So does it look like an elbow?
And look what they did for Mr/Mrs Garrison of South Park!
Bass Coast
https://youtu.be/JywNAsEgukY
If I understand the story correctly, without the outer structure, her ear canal had closed up (?)
This one used cartilage from her ribs and skin from her arm.
I assume they cut the artery and nerves so they could reattach them to her head, so the new “ear” continues to get blood and can sense touch just the old one.
The new ear is still you.
Seems better than having mouse cells being nourished by your blood supply, anyway.
Christ did that too.
Yeah to a Roman legion when peter cut off his ear.
I hear ya...
Maybe it’s morbid - but am I the only one who wants to see a picture of the “new” ear in place? How can we judge how convincing it is if we can’t see it?
If you look at the link I provided above, she shows you the ear; but that was taken only a couple of months after the surgeries, and she still had more to go. The doctor said that it takes about a year after all of the surgeries are done for the swelling to go down and the ear to look natural.
What color is the ear? Did she apply for PTSD?
Little Johnny’s mom couldn’t find anyone to watch him when she went to visit a friend’s baby. She very sternly warned him not to say anything about the fact that the baby was born without ears. Johnny promised. When they got there the moms talked a little and Johnny asked, “How is the baby’s eyesight”. “He has perfect 20/20 vision,” sad the baby’s mom proudly. “Good,” said Johnny. “If he had to wear glasses, he’d be screwed”.
Aaaand - it’s Sunday night again, on FreeRepublic.
Thanks for the link. A nice story - and seeing Megyn again didn’t even raise my blood pressure :-).
I thought of apologizing for the interviewer in advance, but let it go ;-)
“Military surgeons have always been at the forefront of surgical advancements.”
My now deceased brother suffered an almost loss of his left hand when an M80 blew up as he was lighting it. He was in the VA hospital for a year and a half while they rebuilt it. It looked perfect after they were done, except for the fingernails....
He made up a good story and didn’t even get a court martial. This was 50 years ago.
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