Update

This is a bit of a rarity, but I have an update on the young man who had a meat cleaver embedded in his face (read about it here).  If you are squeamish, you may want to skip this one.  Oh, stop retching you big baby.  It isn't THAT gory!

I saw him for follow-up in my office a few days later, and his wound had healed beautifully (if I do say so myself).  Unfortunately he had suffered some major nerve damage to 3 of the 5 branches of his facial nerve (which controls all movement of the face).  I sent him to a plastic surgeon for a consultation (since nerve repairs like this are very complex and very highly-specialised).  The plastic surgeon happily took on this difficult case, and he took him back to the operating room.

The scar went directly across three branches of the nerve (temporal, zygomatic, and buccal branches).  The three severed nerves were identified and repaired successfully.

It was a very elegant repair of the nerves, and I give full credit to my colleague for the procedure.  If only all of my patients could have such a nice outcome.

UPDATE 3/20/12: I have decided to take down these pictures because I did not take them myself.