In Russia, an operation was carried out to save the face of a child mutilated by a dog (5 photos)

The tragedy occurred in Karachay-Cherkessia on March 23. A 4-year-old boy accidentally threw him into a doghouse while playing football. And when he tried to get him, the aggressive dog tore off the child’s nose and cheek.





The child was urgently hospitalized at the main clinic of Karachay-Cherkessia. It was lucky that the dog did not have time to eat the bitten off parts of the face, and they, along with the victim, were taken to the regional children's hospital.



While the child was being taken to the hospital, local surgeons held a consultation and came to the conclusion that they could not help the boy; such operations had never been performed in Russia.

Krasnodar surgeon Alexey Dikarev and his team volunteered to perform the operation; they had already restored a face, but only for an adult man after an accident at work.



The facial replantation surgery lasted 6 hours. Photo: social networks of doctor Alexey Dikarev

“It was Saturday evening. I gave our working group the command to be ready to leave for Cherkessk within an hour with the preparation of tools and consumables. But the administration of Cherkessk made a decision, and the guy was sent by special transport to Krasnodar,” said Alexey Dikarev.

Within 8 hours the boy was on the operating table. Only 12 hours passed between the dog attack and the operations, and thanks to the efficiency of all services, replantation of the child’s native facial flap became possible.



The most complex operation lasted 6 hours. They sewed it on in one go - with a solid flap; previously similar operations were carried out using the patchwork method. The boy was able to restore his lips, mouth, nose and oral muscles.

The uniqueness of this operation was also in the fact that all the tissues were native, and it was possible to do without transplantation. According to doctors, the child is now stable and recovering. In three weeks, the tissues took root by 75%.



Now this operation is being discussed by leading surgeons in Russia and the world; it will be included in medical textbooks. As Dikarev himself noted, until this moment not a single facial replantation had been carried out in Russia.

An alternative to this operation could be a face transplant from another person, but in this case the boy would have to take medication for the rest of his life.

The dog that mutilated the child was euthanized.

But the surgeon who sewed back a child’s face that had been bitten off by a dog was fired after the photos appeared online