5 Rare Medical Surgeries
As medicine is advancing, people can now live even longer than before. Medical conditions that used to be impossible to repair are things that modern medicine can address. Children born with a variety of diseases and conditions can now undergo surgery to repair these diseases and conditions. These advantages can extend to adults as well. Here are five rare medical surgeries that may, as time passes, become more common.
photo/ Darko Stojanovic
Tooth in Eye Surgery
Tooth in Eye Surgery is also called Osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis. This surgery is used to treat blindness by using a tooth. The process involves taking either a canine or premolar tooth, drilling a hole into it, and then putting a plastic lens in that tooth. The entire thing is then implanted into the cheek of the person. Here, it grows blood vessels and, soon, is put into the eye. This light moves through the lens, and because the tooth comes from the patient, the body does not reject it.
Rotationplasty
Rotationplasty is a type of reconstructive surgery that turns ankles into knees. The femur, the knee, and the upper part of the tibia are removed; the leg is then turned and connected to the thigh. Basically, the foot is attached to the knee, backward. Then, the ankle works as the knee. A prosthetic limb is then used for the lower half of the leg. This is most often used for children who have tumors near their knees.
Face Transplant
In 2015, according to an article from The Monitor Daily, a firefighter from Mississippi was given a new face. After years of reconstructive surgeries, over sixty of them, this firefighter, who was injured in the line of duty, had a new opportunity. During a surgery that lasted over twenty hours, his surgeon successfully completed a face transplant. The new skin replaced the heavily burned skin that was previously covering the patient’s face.
Hemispherectomy
When considering which part of the body a person can live without, the brain is not the part that is typically thought of first. However, in a hemispherectomy, this is exactly what happens. If someone has a neurological disorder that causes a person to have seizures in half of the brain, this procedure can be helpful. These disorders can include epilepsy, stroke, an inflammation of the cerebral cortex, glaucoma, and other health issues.
Ovarian Cysts
The concept of a cyst, a large sac with fluid, pus, or gas inside of it, is not rare. However, on occasion, an ovarian cyst will grow to be quite large. In 1951, a woman in Michigan had a one-hundred and fifty-pound ovarian cyst removed. Draining the cyst took her doctors around four days. While most modern cysts are closer to between ten and twenty-five pounds, there are exceptions to this and all large ovarian cysts are rare.
There are many different surgeries that can improve the lives of people who suffer from rare conditions. From ovarian cysts to face transplants, there are equally rare surgeries that are performed by doctors all over the world.
Author: Carol Trehearn
