11 months after being gored by raging bull, Rajasthan man gets new face thanks to series of surgeries

Team Udayavani, Aug 3, 2021, 4:02 PM IST

Image Source: NDTV

Nearly eleven months after a man’s face was ripped apart by a raging bull, the 38-year-old has now got a new face.

The man, Karnee Bishnoi underwent a series of reconstructive surgeries at Max Saket hospital following the bull attack which left him with a mangled face in September 2020.

On the day of the incident, Bishnoi was driving home and had slowed down his vehicle to let bulls cross the road. However, one of the bulls suddenly charged at Bishnoi through the open window gouging his right eye and his nose, lips, and scalp, were torn to tatters in the attack.

Bishnoi’s friend who was travelling with him was not as badly injured and managed to take him to a local hospital where the staff managed to stem the bleeding with packing while expressed their helplessness to provide further treatment as they lacked the expertise.

Saket was then transferred to Saket hospital where doctors were surprised to see him alive despite the extent of the injuries.

On finding that his “ventilation tube to be blocked with some material which was found to be his pulverised brain,” the neurosurgeons and plastic surgery team were called in. COVID-19 protocol meant that the surgeons had to put on full PPEs for 10 hours while “painstakingly putting together bone, flesh, nose pieces”. After another surgery that lasted nine hours, the team “not only managed to save his life but also restored the face to a human form.” Following this, Bishnoi made what was described to be an “uneventful recovery” and resumed his work.

Bishnoi underwent a second surgery four months later. At this time he was not able to lift his right eyebrow and forehead and could not even smile. For the first time in India, “some ingenious constructive surgery techniques” such as “forehead muscle to muscle neurotisation” were performed.

In the month of July, after practising mirror bio-feedback involving moving the forehead on the affected side, Bishnoi was finally able to lift his eyebrow a little. From then on he kept practising harder and is getting better by the day.

Bishnoi will be undergoing more procedures in the next few months for artificial eye and scar revisions.