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- A man who was badly disfigured in a boating accident
has been given a metal face after surgeons rebuilt his features from an
old photograph.
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- Nigel Bam, 39, an engineer, was injured when his 27ft
motor cruiser Kym hit a rock in Plymouth Sound. He suffered so many fractures
to his face that surgeons could not count them all. His wife Karen, 36,
gave them a picture of what he used to look like so they could operate.
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- Two years on Mr Bam looks as good as new, after nine
titanium plates were used to rebuild his right eye socket and the top half
of his mouth which came away from the rest of his face and had to be re-attached.
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- Mr Bam said: "They have done a wonderful job, but
I sometimes find myself looking at my face in the mirror, wondering if
it is the same face."
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- His wife said: "It took several months to get used
to it even after his face had been rebuilt, because there are still some
differences. I have been going out with Nigel since we were 13 so I knew
his face very well."
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- Mr Bam, a partner in an engineering firm, has had seven
operations in which his face has been fitted with more than 20 screws.
He has paid more than £10,000 for dental work to complete the rebuild.
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- When he arrived in Plymouth's Derriford Hospital after
the accident in June 1998 surgeons told him that his face had been smashed
like an eggshell. He could not scratch his nose because the whole of his
faced moved at the slightest touch and he could not even feel the roof
of his mouth with his tongue. He lost 11 teeth, broke another three and
had to spend six weeks with his jaw wired, unable to eat any solid food.
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- Using the photograph surgeons made a three-dimensional
model of his skull so they could carry out their work.
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- Commander Steven Liggins, one of the surgeons at Derriford
Hospital, said: "The work we do here is as good as anywhere in the
world. To offer this sort of surgery is not common. It takes about 18 years
of training because we are all doctors and have read dentistry as well."
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