A man has finally had his face fixed after surgery to reattach his nose – that was bitten off by his dog – left him looking ‘like a monster’.
Jim, from the US, whose surname and age is unknown, was attacked by the family dog when he leaned in to kiss him as he slept.
Three surgeries were attempted to fix the gaping hole in his nose, including transplanting skin from his cheek to his nose.
But the results were so unsightly – resulting in a nose that was crooked and grew hair because it was cheek skin – even doctors told Jim he wouldn’t want to go outside.
Celebrity surgeons Dr Terry Dubrow and Dr Paul Nassif – stars of the hit E! reality show Botched – succeeded in reconstructing Jim’s nose, meaning he didn’t need to have skin grafted from his forehead.
Jim, whose surname and age is unknown, has finally had his face fixed by celebrity surgeons Dr Terry Dubrow and Dr Paul Nassif – stars of the hit E! reality show Botched
Jim was left looking ‘like a monster’ after three surgeries, including a cheek flap (see above)
Pictured after his first surgery which was to reattach Jim’s nose
Jim was bitten by his dog, Zeus, who was startled when Jim leant in to kiss him
Jim revealed how his sleeping dog Zeus destroyed his nose one morning before he planned to play golf in 2015.
He said: ‘I leaned in to kiss Zeus goodbye and he startled and I felt blood.
‘When I got up and I looked in the mirror, I realized that he had just taken a whole chunk of my nose off. I screamed, “Call 911!”
‘We get to the hospital and the doctor said. “We’re taking you into the operating room and we’re going to sew this nose back on”.’
But a couple hours after reattaching the nose it started to turn purple.
Jim spent 11 days undergoing hyperbaric oxygen, a therapy used to treat serious infections and unhealed wounds.
But the skin of the sides of Jim’s nose died and left a huge hole.
After Jim’s nose was reattached, it began to turn purple within a couple of hours
Jim said his nose was left crooked and the left nostril was compressed after his surgeries
The man must shave his nose due to the skin being grafted from his cheek
Thankfully, the tip of Jim’s nose survived, which made it possible for him to get his second surgery – a cheek flap procedure.
‘The difference between a forehead flap and a cheek flap is that a forehead flap comes down from the forehead,’ Jim said.
‘It’s very unsightly and the doctors even told me, “You’re not gonna want to go outside”.’
After this, Jim felt like ‘a monster’, resulting in a third surgery to try and give the nose more of a shape, involving taking more skin from the back of Jim’s ear.
He was still unhappy with the results but to his horror, there was no more the doctors could do.
Jim said: ‘At that time, they told me they had taken it as far as they could take it.
‘I was shocked. I thought the doctor was a plastic surgeon and he was going to give me a great nose.
‘If you look at my nose [before], you’ll see its crooked, compressed on the left nostril, and on top of that, I need to shave my nose because my cheek skin grows whiskers.’
When Jim went to see Dr Nassif and Dr Dubrow, he said that he wanted nothing to do with a forehead flap surgery.
Dr Nassif suggested they try using a composite graft.
Jim didn’t want to have a forehead flap – a last resort after a composite graft
Doctors told Jim there was nothing more they could do – which led him to the team on Botched
Rather than placing the composite graft horizontally, the doctor placed it vertically inside the internal lining of Jim’s airway
Jim said he now has closure after seeing Dr Nassif and Dr Dubrow
While Jim was eager to try this strategy for his nasal reconstruction, Dr Nassif warned that they may need to do a forehead flap if the graft failed.
Due to the difficult nature of the case, Dr Nassif decided to try something a little different in the operating room.
Rather than placing the composite graft horizontally, the doctor placed it vertically inside the internal lining of Jim’s airway.
It was a success and, even though Jim had to endure leeches on his nose after the surgery, he was delighted with the result.
‘Now thanks to Dr Nassif, my nose is straight and there’s been some closure with this whole ordeal,’ Jim said.