Girl with two noses receives rare life-changing surgery in India

New Delhi: A pair of eyes, one nose and a mouth, with a difference in shape and size humans across the globe, have these organs as basic facial features- the fact is so obvious that even pointing it out sounds a little odd. But have you ever thought what will happen if one of these organs change their number, like instead of having one nose we have two?

This may be a hypothetical situation for us, but for the 17-year-old girl from Iraq, Benafsha (name changed to protect the identity), this has been a painful reality. Benafsha had inborn nose deformity, wherein, instead of one, she had two nose bones. This not only deshaped her nose but also gave a very odd look to her face.

While the condition was not giving Benafsha any serious health complications, appearing different from others was doing no good to her mental health. Apart from low self-esteem, complex and dejection had crept in her personality. But Benafsha’s loving and caring family, surviving with modest means in a war-torn country, was ready to go to any length for her. And after much research, the family decided to come to India.

Dr Ajaya Kashyap, Medical Director, KAS Medical Centre and MedSpa said “The family had come from Iraq with very high hopes, but the situation of the girl was very unusual, it was a kind of medical challenge for us. Obviously, a reconstruction surgery was her only treatment, but what she required was one of the rarest surgeries. But driven by our technical proficiency and determination to help the girl, we went ahead to perform this extremely complicated surgery,”.

Sharing the details of this rare and successful surgery, Dr Kashyap told, “The procedure she underwent involved osteotomies, where a bone is cut to change its alignment or length. The old nose bones had to be broken and a new nose is constructed, also, the skull bones had to be cut to reshape. To reshape bones around her nose and eyes we did osteotomies of the skull bones and bones around the eyes, and to reconstruct the nose at the mid-line, we had to use the rib graft.”

As the specifics of the surgery suggest that this is a clear case of extraordinary medical expertise and technological capabilities, the visible result is no less exceptional. After the surgery, Benasfsha now looks like any other teenager- upbeat and cheerful.

Telling more about Benafsha, Dr Kshayap said, “The change in her after the surgery is drastic. Unlike before, she is now a very happy girl, who loves traditional Indian clothes and music and would even wear bindis. In a short span of time, she made friends with everyone. I have never seen her without a smile after the procedure. As a doctor, there is nothing more fulfilling than seeing your patients and happy and healthy.”

As far the Benafsha’s parents, they are on cloud nine. Sharing his experience in India and with Dr Kashyap, Benafsha’s father said, “When we started off from Iraq all we hoped was to help our daughter with her sadness. But what we actually received here is beyond expectations. For the first time, we saw our daughter so happy. For us, the surgery has changed everything. Now we can help our daughter settle in her life in whichever way she wants, without feeling insecure about her looks.”