Following a cancer diagnosis, a man who had lost facial movement claims that after cutting-edge surgery, he can now smile once more.
A 52-year-old man named Daniel Kilty had a slow-growing tumor in his cheek that encircled and invaded a nerve, completely paralyzing his face.
The procedure was carried out at Portsmouth's Queen Alexandra Hospital, and according to Mr. Kilty, it gave him back his confidence.
The West Sussex resident, Mr. Kilty, said: "I'm not only cancer-free, but I can smile again. " .
In December 2021, he first became aware that something was wrong when his right eye started to itch and food began to get caught between his teeth and inside of his cheek.
"My right side of my face collapsed, and I appeared grumpy all the time. Mr. Kilty remarked.
The way that people would stare at me in the street, on the train, or in a store made it very difficult for me because it suggested that something was wrong with the way I looked. '".
The intricate procedure to remove the tumor was performed by a 12-person surgical team.
Then they replaced and attached a chewing nerve to a smiling nerve, which caused his face to move and express itself.
Mr. Kilty was the first patient at Queen Alexandra Hospital to receive this particular surgical procedure, known as "facial reanimation," which was pioneered by surgeons Alex Goodson and Matthew Ward at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust.
"We're so happy to have given Daniel, who had total facial paralysis from an invasive cancer, the opportunity to not only live again but the chance to smile again," said Dr. Matthew Ward to the BBC. .
Daniel would have been able to eat and speak normally without this procedure, but he might not have had the same level of social confidence to be able to smile and show emotion in front of others.
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