Forehead and scalp successfully reattached

Surgeons at the Buncke Clinic at California Pacific Medical Center, part of the Sutter Health network, successfully performed an extremely rare surgery reattaching the forehead and scalp of a 22-year-old Stockton woman. This type of surgery has only been successfully performed a few times in the world. The patient, Sonya Dominguez, was at her workplace when her hair was caught in machinery. Dominguez was airlifted to CPMC, via helicopter, where Buncke Clinical surgeons performed the 7 hour surgery using a technique called microsurgery. This technique allowed the surgeons to repair small nerves and blood vessels with sutures thinner than human hair. Lead surgeons on the procedure, Dr. Brian Parrett and Dr. Bauback Safa, explained: "By repairing six blood vessels with the microscope as an aid, we were able to successfully restore the blood supply and replant the completely amputated forehead and scalp. The patient's scalp hair began to grow back within days after the surgery and she was able to go home after just one week." Sonya Dominguez said: "I put my trust in their hands. Without them, I probably wouldn't be here." Gregory Buncke, M.D., head of the Buncke Clinic and chief of plastic surgery at CPMC, explained: "Microsurgery offers hope to patients who, until recently, had few options. The difference it can make in a person's life is remarkable. If this type of surgery had not been available to this young woman, she would have had extensive and permanent disfigurement. Patients come to use from all over the world for microsurgery. We reattach and reconstruct limbs and other body parts that have been crushed or blown up in accidents. In addition, every week we perform reconstructive surgeries for cancer patients, in particular those with breast cancer and head and neck cancers." By continually perfecting their microsurgery techniques, these surgeons are currently able to repair severely damaged areas that, in the past, were untreatable. Microsurgery requires highly specialized surgical skills, over 6 years of training after medical school, as well as the availability of well-trained and experienced microsurgical nurses and anesthesiologists.