Rare scalp replantation surgery gives city woman new lease of life

BENGALURU: In a rare case, a team of plastic surgeons performed a replantation surgery on a woman whose entire scalp and one eyebrow was ripped off when her hair got stuck in a flour mill. The patient has recovered well, and hair has started to grow on her head now, the doctors said.

The Bengaluru-based woman (45) was working in the flour mill while her husband was away on some other work, when her hair, which she had left untied, got stuck in the running machine. Usha (name changed) screamed in pain, and her neighbours and relatives rushed in to see what had happened.
To their shock, they saw that her entire scalp and one of her eyebrows had gotten peeled off from her head. They immediately switched off the machine and retrieved the scalp, placing it in ice and then taking her to Apollo Hospitals at Bannerghatta Road.

A team of doctors, led by Dr Naveen Rao, then performed a scalp replantation surgery on her. Doctors said that the incident and the retrieving of the scalp after the mishap itself took six hours. The patient was first shown to the neurosurgery team because she already had an existing spine injury.

The plastic surgeons then conducted a microvascular surgery, which took about 10 hours to be completed. Dr Rao said, “It has now been eight months since the surgery, and the patient is doing fine today, with hair beginning to grow on the scalp.”

The doctors said that retrieving the scalp is a very important step in such mishaps.