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On May 27th I went in to UCLA Medical Center for facial reconstructive surgery. It was quite an operation; about 7 hours long. I had to stay in the hospital for 4 days. Contrary to the popular phrase, there wasn't any plastic used at all. Click here for details on the operation.

I was born with a genetic defect that allowed cancer to grow in my eyes; it's called Retinoblastoma, and it's pretty nasty. It starts in the retina, and then spreads to the optic nerve and throughout the eye. By the time I was 2 years and 3 months old, I had cancer in both eyes and starting up the left optic nerve (bad news, 'cuz from there it's a straight line to the brain). I underwent a series of operations at Columbia Presbytarian Hospital in NYC by a group of doctors who specialized in this disease. I lost my left eye and most of the bone & tissue around it. Luckily the Laser had just been invented, and they were able to use it to zap the tumors in my right eye; it saved the eye and my sight. Of course, in fighting cancer, there are radiation and chemo treatments.

Funny thing about radiation, it kills the cancer right away, but then slooowly kills the other tissue it touches. By now, the skin in my missing eye's socket is more like it's 100 years old, and getting to be a problem; there was literally no fat between the skin and my cheekbone. So after consulting with a couple of reconstruction specialists, it's off to the body shop for me...  kind of like getting a dented fender fixed. They will take a chunk of tissue from my left forearm and use it to build out the left side of my head, including using a piece of skin from the underside of my wrist to replace the dying skin in my socket. The proceedure is called a 'radial forearm free flap transfer' and is performed by a vascular microsurgeon. Here's a basic overview of flaps. If you want specifics, here's a detailed description from the Buncke Clinic in San Francisco. Microsurgeon.org has some good info as well.

About 3 months after the flap transfer is done and the tissue has stabilized, we'll do a small bone transplant to help build up the 'orbit', the boney areas formed by the upper cheek and the eyebrow. A modest chunk of bone will be taken from my hip, and ground up; a special titanium mesh will be molded into the right shapes and slid in under the flap and filled with the bone paste, which will grow into the mesh and become permanent. Pretty cool, huh? This should be a day proceedure, no hospital stay required. (I hope so, because I had some bone cut out of my hip in 1973 and it was much less than fun). Then, a couple of months after that, they'll go in and do some fine liposuction to 'sculpt' the flap tissue to be as symmetrical with the right side of my face as possible. Also, along in here somewhere I may get new eyebrow hair on the left side; this will come from just behind my ears.

So, the last half of 2003 ought to keep me pretty busy. I can't wait to see the final result. Stay tuned to these pages for updates and new photos.