Frank Ware is a patient who has benefitted from Dr. Madorsky’s skills twice! First, with a skin cancer reconstruction of his left cheek, and more recently with a “half facelift” on the right side of his face.
This patient exemplifies why we do what we do, embodying both the skin cancer and cosmetic goals of our practice.
Frank Ware came to the SCARS Center for surgical reconstruction of his left cheek post removal of melanoma. When Dr. Madorsky met Frank to treat his left cheek, he went right to the right side of his face, which has been paralyzed for decades due to a past surgical procedure. Years ago, Frank had an acoustic neuroma tumor in his cranial cavity, and when it was removed, the facial nerve was too involved to be saved. This resulted in facial paralysis. Frank has lived with this over the years, returning to his job as a middle school principal, and adapting to his strained speech and movement.
When Dr. Madorsky met and then examined Frank, he said, “I think we can do something about that.” He thought Frank would be a great candidate for a deep plane frace lift, well, at least half of one.
This brings up a very exciting parallel: The deep plane facelift technique used to correct the right-sided facial paralysis is what has driven development of the specialized flap (SMAS fasciocutaneous Island flap) used for the reconstruction of the melanoma of his left cheek.
In essence, the innovations in facial plastic surgery driven by cosmetic results also inform the methods for reconstruction of an area afflicted with skin cancer.