Face replant of 6-year-old successful

KOCHI: Six-year-old Abhay Kumar, who had undergone a rare composite facial part replant at a city hospital here, will be going home with a smiling face soon. Abhay had lost a major part of his face including nose, lips and a portion of cheek in an accident on December 20 last year. The replant was performed on the same day by a team led by Dr R Jayakumar. Specialists Hospital director Dr K R Rajappan said that Abhay has successfully completed the first stage of the treatment and is in good health.“Under the first stage, the face has been given a shape and its creation has been a cent per cent success,” he said. Though, Abhay is fit enough to go home in two days time, complete recovery would take about a year, he added. Dr Rajappan said that the next stage would be the correction of the functional deformity. “We will now concentrate on the facial parts and see how grave the defects are,” he said.Abhay’s father Vijay said that a lot of people helped him with expense. “I am very happy that my son had got his face back,” he added. Abhay was also happy that he could go back to school and meet his friends soon.