[HEALTH WATCH]
Marites Ulep, above left, and Dr. F. Don Parsa, plastic surgery chief at the Queen's Medical Center, smiled yesterday during her checkup.
Surgery rebuilds
woman’s faceA fire victim from the Philippines
receives artificial skin implants
Marites Ulep was burned over 30 percent of her body when an alcohol lamp in a hospital in Ilocos Norte, the Philippines, exploded and her long-sleeved hospital gown caught fire on Dec. 7, 1999.
Philippine doctors "did a great job salvaging her life," said Dr. F. Don Parsa, noting Ulep could have died from loss of fluids or blood and infections. But Ulep could not close her mouth, smile or eat normally from the second- and third-degree burns to her face, neck, chest, abdomen and right arm.
Ulep showed an earlier photo of her disfigured face, caused by a medical lab fire.
The 30-year-old said she never lost hope or her will to live."I was hopeful that I will be fixed," the former laboratory technician said yesterday after a checkup in the office of Parsa, chief of plastic surgery at the Queen's Medical Center.
Ulep is going home July 15 with a much different face than she had upon arrival six months ago, thanks to Parsa, the Queen's Medical Center and the Aloha Medical Mission, she said.
Dr. Ramon Sy, president and founder of the medical mission, arranged with Queen's and Parsa for free reconstructive surgery on Ulep. Drs. Carl Ho, Derrick Dang and Alpha Rivera donated anesthesiology services.
Parsa learned a new technique on the mainland called "INTEGRA" to rebuild Ulep's deformed face with artificial skin.
Layers are implanted starting with collagen that is incorporated into the patient's tissue, Parsa said. The collagen is protected temporarily by a thin layer of silicone that is later replaced by a layer of the person's own skin, he explained.
She has had nine surgical procedures since January, including three by Parsa.
While in the burn unit of a Manila hospital for five months, she said she met Dr. Danilo Ablan, of Honolulu, an Aloha Medical Mission volunteer. She said she had heard a lot about the organization and wrote to Sy asking if it could help her.
She could not work because of her injuries, and there is no workers' compensation in the Philippines, Sy pointed out. The family had to pay the medical bills, and her father, who had been in construction, could not work because he was on kidney dialysis.
"Unless something was done, her life would be doomed," Sy said. "She was persistent in writing to me, and I said I would try my best." But at the time, he said, "we couldn't do anything on her case."
It took more than a year to get her a visa after Parsa and Queen's offered their help, Sy said. "After 9/11 it was very, very difficult. We got Sen. (Daniel) Inouye and everyone to help. The embassy in Manila gave us lots of requirements."
A University of Hawaii professor of plastic surgery, Parsa said Ulep's case represents the philosophy of "outstretching" to other parts of the Pacific by the John A. Burns School of Medicine.
Ulep, staying with her aunt Josie Taylor at Ewa Beach, expects to go on her first trip around the island Sunday.
She said she misses her parents and eight brothers, and looks forward to going home. She hopes to find a job and take care of her father, she said.
"Hopefully, she'll go back to have a very productive life," Sy said.
