Defining Facial Surgery

If you search Google for “facial surgery” and scroll through primary results, you tend to see links for cosmetic surgery. They can point to botched cases, celebrity confessions, or promotions.

Whilst cosmetic treatment has value in professional hands, being wary of cosmetic surgery ads is wise. Neither does Google’s popularity based search engine truly reflect what facial surgery offers.

This can be part of treatment for head, neck, or oral cancer, acquired, or inherent facial deformity. In numerical terms, cases for oral & maxillofacial surgeons most commonly arise from trauma.

A Fragile Region

The often small scale, complex bone and tissue structure of our head and face make them vulnerable to damage. Around 7,000 people attend UK A & E departments with facial injuries every week.

Sports injuries can be a factor, or traffic accidents, In countries with poor roads and few traffic regulations, RTAs may be the leading cause.

In the UK, the primary cause is falls, which are a prevalent reason for childhood facial trauma. In adults, they may be related to alcohol consumption, injury by assault, or activities which carry risk.

For a maxillofacial team, the cause is not however the point, other than considering the mechanism behind an injury in a medical sense.

Careful Intervention

Facial injuries can look unpleasant but are at times associated with deeper damage. Spinal trauma needs to be checked for, any airway issues, problems with vision, smell, or hearing, whether consciousness was lost.

If there is bleeding, or other types of discharge, the reasons should be understood. Damage to teeth, or the ability to bite down may require thought, or changes in facial sensation which suggest nerve damage.

The way wounds are treated could have a significant aesthetic impact, the difference between minimal scarring and permanent facial deformity.

In many ways, the facial region is central to life, to our senses, our ability to eat and breathe. A maxillofacial consultant must think beyond apparent damage.

Essential Skills

Advanced surgical skills are a prerequisite for treating facial conditions, including microvascular surgery, or other tissue transplant techniques.

Maxillofacial surgeons are required to be qualified in medicine and dentistry. They need to be able to analyse a variety of medical imaging, to plan treatment, ensuring the best decisions are made.

Beyond this, they are dealing with an area that is part of their patient’s persona. Communication skills and an ability to encourage emotional resilience can be as important as managing physical treatment.

Facial Surgery In Practice

From ending the danger a cancer brings, to ensuring people can eat, breathe, or sleep, facial surgery is a vital part of medicine.

We do not wish to dismiss the cosmetic aspects Google highlight, because how people feel about themselves is important. Aesthetic needs should always be considered in facial surgery.

The medical aspect is however equally important in restoring the abilities that nature gave us and contributing to quality of life.