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Woman’s crushed Marilou Parel is returning to the Philippines today with a much different face than she had upon arrival six months ago.
face reconstructed
Half of her face was smashed,
and she also lost an eye in an accidentBy Helen Altonn
Star-BulletinHalf of her face and her bones were crushed and an eye lost in an April 1998 traffic accident in the Philippines.
She left here with deep gratitude to a team of Honolulu doctors and others involved in bringing her here to restore her appearance.
"Thanks to the doctors -- they made it successful," she said repeatedly in an interview Saturday.
"We're very satisfied with the outcome, given the circumstances of the injury and extent of scarring from the accident," said plastic surgeon Don Parsa.
"She may need minor things in the Philippines, but everything with the technology and expertise that we needed to do was successfully accomplished," said ophthalmologist Jorge G. Camara.
The Aloha Medical Mission sponsored Parel's trip, and the Filipino Nurses Organization of Hawaii paid her round-trip ticket. Dr. Ramon Sy, who heads the medical mission, handled the complicated paperwork involved for a six-month visa.
St. Francis Medical Center provided the facilities, supplies and equipment for three operations. The first took more than eight hours, the second four hours and the last two hours.
The surgery was performed free by Camara and other mission volunteers -- Parsa, anesthesiologists Efren Baria and Fred Pacpaco, and ocularist Dos Tannehill, who makes artificial eyes.
Parel, 40, was a guest of Lolita Ching, a volunteer nurse with Aloha Medical Mission.
Ching said Parel approached medical mission doctors when they were in her Pangasinan province earlier this year, but she asked only for a false eye.
She had already had six surgeries for her face. They did not work and resulted in more scarring on her nose, Parsa said.
Dr. Rafael Rodriguez, ophthalmologist in the Philippines who trained here with Camara, met Parel during the mission and sent Camara a letter detailing what needed to be done.
Parel's surgery involved removing all the scar tissue and damaged tissues, not only from the accident but from previous operations, Parsa said.
Her nose was flattened by the injury, and the opening had to be reconstructed. Bone was taken from her hip, and skin from her forehead was used to cover the bone graft.
"That was the most tedious and technically different part," said Camara, who had to go through her nose for a tear duct operation with a laser.
In the first, long procedure, Camara reconstructed the crushed orbit and restored the crushed bones around the eye for an artificial eye implant by Tannehill.
Parsa also put an implant into Parel's left cheek, which had sunk in, and fine-tuned the shape a few days ago.
The shy and unassuming patient said she would like to stay here longer but is looking forward to seeing her family, resuming her duties as a nurse and facing people again.
"She has been writing us notes and letters expressing how grateful she is, how much it has affected her life, how much self-esteem and self-worth she gained by us treating her," Parsa said.
But the doctors also benefited, he said, pointing out, "The essence, the purpose, of medicine is to help other people."
The purpose of the Aloha Medical Mission and similar organizations is "to help people who aren't actually seeking their help," he said. "By doing so, we are fulfilling our primary mission as physicians."
About 36 Hawaii and mainland doctors and other volunteers, including a big group from New Jersey, will leave Friday for Samar, in the Philippines, for the fourth Aloha Medical Mission this year. They pay their own way.