Future of Facial Reconstruction

Terrorism is a major threat to modern society.

It not only kills but worse still, it maims many innocent bystanders.

Most of these victims suffer horrific hand and neck injuries with the loss of bone, teeth and flesh. They have to endure multiple opeartions in an attempt to reconstruct their faces. However, there are limitations as to what modern surgery can achieve at this stage.

New research is being carried out in the field of scaffolding where the donor cells are removed, leaving behind the scaffold structure and the host cells are then cultured onto these scaffolds. Replacing missing bone structure is also being investigated to give structure to the face with the objective of returning the face to its original form and shape.

In addition, there are ongoing studies into better tooth replacement options.

The major obstacle to facial reconstruction at this point in is the ability to replace lost muscles and the horizon for this is much further than the rest.

With advances in these fields, it is hoped that the impact of facial wounds will not be as devastating as before.