The full scalp of a woman is replanted

April 17, 2012

Naomi crashed into a fruit-packing factory in Rio Negro, and was derived in air ambulance to HUA (Hospital Universitario Austral), where she was operated by an interdisciplinary group of specialists in craniofacial surgery and surgery for head and neck.

Naomi Torres (27) gathered pears in a factory floor packing of fruits, in the Rio Negro valley, when a machine became entangled in her long hair. She failed to escape and suffered a total detachment of the scalp, from the eyebrows to the nape. Fifteen hours later, Naomi entered the operating room of the Hospital Universitario Austral (HUA), where surgeons managed to reattach her scalp.

There is only one history of this surgery in the national literature, which makes the case of Naomi in one of the only ones.

Basically, the operation, which lasted six hours, was to revascularize the scalp of Naomi, that is, “reconnect” arteries and veins by a process known as anastomosis. “The tissue was first blue, perhaps indicating a failure, but just decided to go ahead and gradually regained its normal color after 48 hours,” described the doctors.