Forehead flap

I’ve said it before,  and I will say it again. . I don’t ever want a forehead flap.
Facial scars are now part of me, the telling story of conflict.  I have been asked more than once if I was a soldier. My reasons are not from the line of duty, just that I had a cancer. I didn’t fight it, some amazing people did that for me,  my scars are from the long journey to get my life back.

The reason I wrote this blog was to share my story and experience of facial cancer. Sharing my experience has been a rewarding experience as I know that it has helped many others with cancer and disfigurement.
I write this two and a half years after my initial surgery,  it is almost Christmas 2014 which will be my 37th birthday,  my son Harrys 2nd birthday.

When I had the major surgery earlier this year to fill the huge hole where my eye orbit is (defect) with skin and muscle from my back I thought I was done with hospitals.

After I chose to proceed with having the Branemark implants reinserted (titanium screws into the bone) to form the scaffold for a new prosthesis, It didn’t work. The stress on the tissues was too much and the skin parted again creating a new hole; A BIG ONE!

The forehead flap is the best solution. I sacrificed too much to get to this point or be vain about more scars… it is what it is….

So on the 18th of December 2014 I put myself in the hands of the incredible surgeons again. The forehead flap involves cutting a sausage shape piece of skin from the forehead leaving it attached above the nose. It is then flapped down and in my case sewn across my eye socket and hole. The forehead is then sewn back together to close the gap. Sounds bad doesn’t it? I have been through worse in many ways but this was the procedure I wanted to avoid,  but here it is.

One month later

So it wasn’t too bad. I have a mean scar but the procedure was not the horrific carnage I feared! The only thing was in my case that in order to manipulate the skin tissues to take the new graft meant re cutting and restitching which caused a couple of new holes, which resulted in a couple of follow up operations, but for now all good!

I am definitely leaving off with pursuing with having implants reinserted for a good while. I think I counted 6 separate surgeries in the last year. That’s enough I think.

The scabby looking material is some dressing that is sewn in to protect the new tissue. Once the stitches are removed then it will look much neater.

If I had to find a plus in this surgery I could name a couple.

1) Not quite a brow lift but has the same kind of effect

2) Ready made bad ass scar to complement my eye patch… I think I need a casting agent to make me a movie star… (but would I be a hero or villain? That’s a great question asked by my friends at Changing Faces…) what do you think?