Maxillofacial Surgery Effects
Maxillofacial surgery is an operation that intends to correct an injury, disease or defect affecting the neck, head, face, jaws and the soft and hard tissues of the maxillofacial or oral region. It is internationally recognized as a surgical specialty and may include cosmetic facial procedures or reconstructive surgery. This is largely because it involves the alteration of one's facial appearance with the aim of rebuilding the defected or damaged areas back to normal.
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Significance
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Severe damage, deformity or abnormality in a person's facial appearance can be devastating and greatly affect quality of life. For a lot of people, having a strange physical appearance may be a cause for embarrassment and can lead to depression and low self-esteem, affecting work, school, family, friends and social life. Maxillofacial surgery offers a solution for such patients, providing a chance to reconstruct their facial appearance and help them to lead a relatively normal life.
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Severe Accident
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Patients who suffer from facial injuries as a result of a severe accident may seek a maxillofacial surgeon to help correct cosmetic damages to the face. The surgeon can clean up the patient's physical appearance and work on any nerve damage that may be causing pain or affecting the patient's nerve response. The earlier the patient is treated from the time of the injury, the better the chances of reducing the long-term impacts of the damages caused by the accident.
Disease
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Diseases that affect the region of the face such as cancers or tumors located in that area can potentially deform a person's facial appearance. Patients suffering from these types of diseases may consider maxillofacial surgery as part of their treatment. In addition to working with an oncologist or cancer specialist, the cancer patient can seek the help of a maxillofacial surgeon to remove damaged tissues affected by the cancer and to rebuild their face.
Birth Defects
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Those born with deformities or birth defects that affect the maxillofacial region may find that maxillofacial surgery can change their life for the better. This can be especially beneficial if they are extremely bothered with the deformity to the point that it affects the way they interact with other people and how they see themselves. Palates, cleft lips and other disfigurements or deformities can be corrected by maxillofacial surgery.
Risks
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As with all types of surgeries, not all maxillofacial surgeries are highly successful and there have been cases of patients who underwent surgeries and came out unhappy with the results. Going with a highly respected surgeon with a high success-rate lessens the risk of getting bad results.
References
- Photo Credit "104/365: I love the dentist." is Copyrighted by Flickr user: Betsssssy (Betsy Fletcher) under the Creative Commons Attribution license.
