Some surgeries for oral, head, and neck cancers are relatively minor. Other surgeries, however, are deep or extensive and can result in significant changes to your appearance and/or your ability to speak, eat and swallow. When this occurs, our plastic and reconstructive surgeons work closely with your head and neck surgeons to create a plan that will provide the most effective cancer treatment while protecting your appearance and your quality of life.
How we can help
Our highly experienced team repairs and restores head and neck defects, from simple to complex. We offer the latest advances for transplanting skin, bone, nerves, and fat from other parts of the body to fill in depressions and deficits, smooth and reshape skin and replace structures that were removed during surgery.
In addition, we coordinate with Roswell Park’s Dental & Maxillofacial Prosthetics team to replace lost teeth (via dental implants) and create custom-designed artificial facial structures (ear, nose, etc.) if necessary.
We offer complete jaw reconstruction — including dental implants — in one operation.
Our team provides surgical options to:
- Restore ability to eat and swallow by reconstructing the jaw, tongue, oral cavity and esophagus
- Repair or reconstruct facial structures. We offer:
- Local flaps (repositioning of tissue adjacent to the defect)
- Distant flaps (tissue transplanted from somewhere else, using microsurgery)
- Skin grafts (skin transplanted from somewhere else on the body)
- Cartilage grafts (cartilage transplanted from ear, nose or ribs)
- Tissue expansion (expansion of adjacent skin to resurface a defect)
- Restore ability to breathe and speak by rebuilding the airway and larynx
- Reanimate facial muscles to improve appearance and function following paralysis related to cranial and facial surgery
- Improve appearance of scars
- Improve facial asymmetry or deformity
- Repair bone defects in the skull resulting from tumor removal, cranioplasty or trauma
- Repair skin deficits after Mohs surgery that removed skin cancer
The face is a very important part of the body. Structures like our lips, our ears and our noses are unique and unlike the rest of the body. Even small defects can cause significant deformities and functional problems. Regaining the function and restoring the beauty of the face is important and necessary.Can Ozturk, MD, Plastic & Reconstructive surgeon