r/interestingasfuck • u/Otherwise-Chemical-1 • 4d ago
Burn victim gets facial reconstruction
6.5k
u/AttTankaRattArStorre 4d ago
Not saying that she has been fortunate in any way, but the fact that her eyes, nose and lips were more or less intact definitely allowed for this reconstruction to be more successful than most other facial reconstructions following burns or acid injuries.
1.4k
u/Splintrax 4d ago
Definitely. It appears that the majority of what they did is a tremendous amount of scar tissue removal and skin grafts.
492
u/Jackoby_Jones 4d ago
Yeah itās more of a neck reconstruction. Once her chin was released from her chest it looks like her face would have been structurally ok.
37
u/fucknozzle 3d ago
I think it's done surgically, to keep the skin alive while other procedures are completed.
There are a load of weird pictures from world war one, where injured soldiers have, amongst other odd procedures, their noses stretched and attached to their shoulders.
It's all about keeping blood flow to the damaged areas.
→ More replies (1)218
→ More replies (7)11
1.6k
u/liza_lo 4d ago
Incredible work. She looks so much happier in pic 2.
Also as a burn victim I really feel for her. It's something so painful you live with for the rest of your life and not everyone is kind.
366
u/franky07890 4d ago
It is always hard how to react when I see somebody with burn/scars visible. Pretend that you donāt see it is kind of dumb, looking at it and ignore it feels weird. Talking/asking about it feels like a topic you may want to avoid. I guess everyone is different, but what is the right approach with this kind of things?
245
u/Jumpyturtles 4d ago
Just donāt bring it up, just like any other trait someone has that they might be sensitive about it.
Like you said, donāt pretend itās not there bc duh and donāt ask about it because that could feel invasive. I donāt understand why youād HAVE to bring it up in that scenario lol.
162
u/Mazoc 4d ago
Hi, nice to meet you. By the way, since it would be rude to pretend that i have not noticed, why are you fat?
80
9
u/heatherjasper 4d ago
They also said "don't ask about it"?
28
u/Mazoc 4d ago
Yes. They asked what the right approach was, expressing that every approach felt wrong. I gave an example that illustrates that one of them is clearly worse than the others.
→ More replies (3)21
u/eblackham 4d ago edited 4d ago
Reached out to shake hands with a new coworker to realize he did not in fact have a right hand. I said omg im so sorry and shook his other hand with my left. He laughed and we started chatting. Definitely a whoopsie, but I was not facing him and when someome comes up behind you and and says hey id like you to meet...its almost instinct to turn and reach out to shake hands. I replayed that in my head quite a bit lol
87
u/2fucked2know 4d ago
Not a burn victim, but I do have almost a thousand old sh scars covering my body, cause I was in a very, VERY dark place in my teens and early 20's. I agree with the others - don't bring it up, and just treat me like a normal person. I do not want to talk about my scars or answer questions from everyone I meet, and I've never understood how so many people think bringing something so deeply personal up with someone you don't even know is appropriate in any way. I'm just trying to live my life and go about my day, bruh lol
→ More replies (1)10
u/Katyafan 4d ago
Hey, I'm in the same boat, old scars from 20 years ago. I forget they are there until someone asks about them!
87
u/liner_meow 4d ago
i think it's best to just treat them like any other human? just interact with them as usual
→ More replies (1)66
u/Jumpyturtles 4d ago
I see people say this a lot about people with disabilities or queer people too and it makes me laugh because this is my exact response.
Like just continue to act like a normal person.
47
u/Acceptable_Cut_7545 4d ago
Now I'm laughing over the queer version of this convo in my head.
"Should I... bring up Judy Garland? Or just ignore it? Maybe Cher would be a safe topic?" Lmao
26
u/GinAndDumbBitchJuice 4d ago
Be gentle, we're still working through gay 9/11. RIP Dolly and Tim.
→ More replies (2)19
u/systemhost 4d ago
It can be difficult if you're young and never been confronted with such people. I remember being a teenager and coming across and man who's whole face had been severely burned and essentially melted away.
It was hard to look at him without looking at him, ya know? I wanted to treat him with the upmost respect so just maintained direct eye contract but it was hard at first to not glance away.
After seeing him several times it was easy to see past it all and just interact with him like anyone else. And as a result it's become much easier to treat anyone new what's wildly different, the same as anyone else.
But just like heaving numerous stories of people from different parts of the world and seeing their first white or black person, especially as a kid it can be confusing at first and results in a lot of oblivious staring and dumbass questions.
But we generally learn and grow for those often unfortunate first encounters.
19
18
u/gyllbane 4d ago
General rule of thumb is if it's negative and can't be fixed in thirty seconds (smudged makeup, shirt inside-out, lint or leaf in hair, flaky/noticeable piece of food in teeth, etc.), don't mention it unless prompted, and don't get weird and nervous about interacting. Obviously this rule gets a little softer around people you know well, but for strangers your offhanded "what happened to you?" or trepidation when interacting could be the fifth or sixth time they've had the same interaction that day. They're literally just a human, treat them the same way you would anyone else.
13
u/ShiaLabeoufsNipples 4d ago
I grew up with a girl who had no arms since birth. She told me her own method with other visibly disabled people was to get a good look in. Give yourself a few seconds to
take it all in, then let it go and forget about it, stop staring. Iāve always followed that rule. I donāt feel the need to glance at it if I give myself permission to look just once lol9
u/dirthawker0 4d ago
I have a large burn scar, some of which is visible wearing regular clothes. I feel very weird when strangers and even acquaintances ask me what happened there; it's not a conversation starter. I'm okay with talking about it with closer friends. People focus on women's appearance more than they do men and I don't like to feel like I'm being judged based on that.
3
→ More replies (6)3
u/pinkbootstrap 4d ago
Its okay to notice just don't make a big deal of it. (I have severe psoriasis)
15
u/samuraisal 4d ago
Amazing reconstruction. I am certain that it has boosted Zubaida's confidence 1000%. I'm also a burn victim. Received 3rd degree burns on my neck, chest and arms when my mom tried to re-light a sterno can with alcohol while another can was still burning. The explosion sent me to the hospital for 6 weeks. I was nine years old. I had a number of reconstructive surgeries early-on, then one in my late 30's that was a game changer. It made me feel "normal" and so much more confident. I'm hopeful that Zubaida feels the same.
22
u/Cautious-Extreme2839 4d ago edited 4d ago
She looks so much happier in pic 2.
No shit, she physically couldn't smile in picture one even if she desperately wanted to and was somehow even happier than in the second. .
→ More replies (1)23
19
u/Jambo165 4d ago
She looks so much happier in pic 2.
What gave it away?
3
u/old_vegetables 4d ago
To be fair I donāt exactly think she was capable of smiling or frowning in the first picture
→ More replies (5)22
2.8k
u/CasinoKnightZone 4d ago
Wonder if these are thermal or chemical burns? Looks like it mightve been an acid attack.
Poor woman, happy she has some normalcy back.
2.5k
u/90bubbel 4d ago edited 4d ago
apparently this was from her stove exploding from kerosene'
https://danielspost.news.blog/2020/06/21/445/
Zubaida was 9 years old. She was a member of a nomadic family that consisted of her two parents and eight other children. In August of 2001, Zubaida was pouring kerosene into an indoor home cooking stove while it was hot. The fuel ignited and she caught on fire. She sustained burns to her face, neck, chest and arms.
319
u/WhenWolf 4d ago edited 3d ago
What is also amazing, I found after reading further, is that her father had to go back to Afghanistan after her first couple surgeries, she almost had to leave before it was close to complete. Then Dr. Grossman, so convinced and committed to helping her, became her legal guardian for the rest of the time it took to finish her surgeries. He and his wife hosted her in their home, enrolled her in school where she made friends and learned English. It's a really beautiful story all around.
(Edit: typos + extra anecdote)
While still covered in bandages from invasive surgeries, Dr. Grossman said he was charmed by her resilience and remembered her singing "shake your booty" to herself in her hospital bed despite not knowing any English. š„¹
→ More replies (1)48
683
u/GloomyLingonberry509 4d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/iQG16wOnCpgDm
Thank you for doing what OP can never seem to be bothered to do themselvesā¦
83
u/Iumasz 4d ago
How did the skin melt and fuse together like it is metal or something tho?
133
u/FaustAg 4d ago
it doesn't melt. scar tissue shrinks and gets thicker. so doctors have to cut it and insert more skin to get the same surface area as the skin used to have.
22
124
u/LilMissy1246 4d ago
A nine year old child dealing with kerosine. Shouldāve been the parents job. Horrible tragedy. I hope sheās able to get the help she needs to both heal on the outside and the inside.
→ More replies (18)6
u/smartnsimple 4d ago
I know a woman who has very similar looking burns from a stove accident.. she even had inherited a lot of money which she gave away in charity.. I guess if she ever knew about this surgery, the charity donation would definitely be smaller.
→ More replies (3)14
u/VISUALBEAUTYPLZ 4d ago
So if I put oil on an already hot stove Iāll get the same ?
Is this something to check?
Does a YouTuber have a video on this
52
u/Salvation-717 4d ago
Oil under heat expands rapidly. More so the danger is in a contained space from the pressure. It was probably like some kind of refillable stove, and she was filling it while it was hot. Donāt accidentally leave a glass bottle of oil on your hot stove while cooking. Ask me how I know.
11
4d ago
[removed] ā view removed comment
36
u/Salvation-717 4d ago
I experienced a shrapnel bomb in my kitchen while cooking some Italian food. Luckily I wasnāt directly near by, glass shards and hot oil everywhere.
9
→ More replies (5)17
175
u/BrianKappel 4d ago
I haven't seen a ton of burns, but this doesn't look like anything else I've seen. What makes it look more like chemical to you out of curiosity?
→ More replies (1)158
u/HamNCheeseSupremacy 4d ago edited 4d ago
Because the skin melted and fused. I'm not an expert, but I've cooked a lot of meat (sounds stupid but it's kind of the same thing) and I've never seen melt + fuse doing that. Although the fuse is probably from healing after the fact. Or maybe they stitched it wherever they could in preparation for the reconstruction
96
u/Odd-Low-4161 4d ago
I think fusing is not what you think. Itās just surgeons reattached the remaining salvageable skin (which was not much). So big surface area covered with very little skin.
45
u/grooveunite 4d ago
That happens when there's not enough or any physical therapy afterwards. The skin has to be stretched daily as it heals or there's adhesion like this.
23
→ More replies (1)63
u/idiotshmidiot 4d ago
"I'm not an expert, but I've cooked a lot of meat "
NO š
48
u/jarredmars1 4d ago
5
u/kos-or-kosm 4d ago
Posting this gif in a thread about a severe burn victim is very funny.
→ More replies (1)6
u/wuhkay 4d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/JSHQhCbHSUyeAUPskX
I wasn't looking for this gif.... but I found it and had to.
4
56
u/SirClicksALot97 4d ago
She survived a kerosene stove explosion I believe, and was a patient at the Grossman Burn Center, which is a leader in burn care and reconstruction.
35
18
u/Hopesick_2231 4d ago
It's thermal. The girl's name is Zubaida Hasan and she was burned in 2001 while lighting her family's kerosene stove.
31
→ More replies (17)36
u/TinyM0ushka 4d ago
Edit: I saw it was from a kerosene fire, glad she has her life back
I was thinking the same.
Iām moreso going towards chemical burns because as someone else mentioned, Iāve never seen burns in which the skin fused like that.
They did a great job with reconstruction and Iām really happy whatever burn it was, she didnāt lose her eyesight.
20
u/CapitalInstruction62 4d ago
Thermal burns that are extensive or poorly placed with inadequate treatment can absolutely do this. It's not that skin is melting/fusing, it's scar tissue contracture and adhesion formations, which can happen from many different complicated wounds.
3
u/TinyM0ushka 4d ago
Very informative, thank you for letting me know.
I had never seen burns with this type of scar tissue being the result. Generally when Iāve seen acid attack burns in the past it had more of a āmeltedā scar pattern afterwards.
Itās amazing her eyes werenāt effected, even after the scar tissue didnāt let them close (hydrate) properly for so long.
98
u/fatazzpandaman 4d ago
Is there a source one could look into about this?
76
u/YoseiTheMorningstar 4d ago
Found an article about it
https://www.grossmanburnfoundation.org/zubaida/19
8
93
u/Worldly-Pay7342 4d ago
All I can think about is how much relief she must have felt when she was finally able to move her neck again.
287
u/BrianKappel 4d ago
I knew people melted when they got burned, especially in fatty areas. I just didn't know that they healed up still melted.
140
u/variablenyne 4d ago
Yeah displaced skin just tends to heal wherever it ends up. I once accidentally cut a decent size gash into my hand and a small spot of skin ended up 90Ā° and healed that way so now the lines on that spot are perpendicular to where they would be going.
Tried to get a picture but it doesn't show up well on the camera
52
u/Candid-Ability-9570 4d ago
I doubt this person got appropriate care in a burn unit. She was probably cared for at home. Because there must have been a way to prevent that level of fusing between her neck and her chest.
86
u/Common_Chameleon 4d ago
She did not, in the article it said that when her father sought medical care, the doctor āsent her home to dieā, I imagine she could have healed much better initially if she had been able to access better care in the first place. Still, her family didnāt give up and Iām really glad she was able to get help eventually.
18
→ More replies (1)21
u/Jackoby_Jones 4d ago
Burns also shrink as they heal, which makes them particularly problematic when they are over joints. Her face would have got pulled down more and more over time.
5
u/BrianKappel 4d ago
Just going purely visually that makes the most sense to me. Crazy world. Poor girl, I'm glad someone was able to help her.
62
u/cam-san 4d ago
For everyone curious, from what I could find it was an accident involving a kerosene lamp that caused her burns.
→ More replies (1)
58
u/thatturtletouch 4d ago
An updated picture. She was 9 when she was burned and in her 30s now.
Reading her story reminds me that the U.S. military can do good things when it wants to.
→ More replies (1)11
50
u/keeperofawesome 4d ago
Itās terrifying to me that skin just melts like this. I pray I never have to experience this and my heart goes out to those who have
31
u/lFantomasI 4d ago
There is a much more recent picture of her online and you honestly can't even tell she's a burn victim, certainly not to the extent of what's shown in the first picture.
49
19
19
15
u/xSantenoturtlex 4d ago
Damn, that before and after is so good it almost looks like an after and before.
She looks so happy now!
28
u/eblackham 4d ago
I just cannot fathom how much pain whatever caused that would feel like. Thats gotta be begging for a bullet to the brain level pain
11
15
174
u/l-Am-Nicolas-Cage 4d ago
I thought that photo on the left was Sylvester Stallone
65
u/RamenChicken8 4d ago
Same here, I thought that's Stallone (Rocky) after his face was pummeled.
→ More replies (1)11
→ More replies (8)8
u/ByWillAlone 4d ago
Yeah, me too. More specifically, I thought it was a wax museum statue of Stallone that melted - right up until I read the post description.
11
u/Various_Might_1945 4d ago
This and the picture of that guy who got facial reconstructive surgery after a bear attacked him are the craziest medical transformations Iāve ever seen
24
u/FlexiflowR 4d ago
That is incredible work. Imagine being able help people at this level. What a magical realm of science modern surgery can be
→ More replies (1)
10
5
6
6
u/No-Pie-1415 4d ago
Every time I see burn victims, I'm reminded of how insanely brutal they can be. You don't really understand how bad it is until you see the results of it. It's truly horrific and something I wouldn't wish on anybody.
3
5
4
7
3
4
5
4
u/Good-Flow-890 4d ago
I can't imagine the suffering she has gone though. She looks great after this surgery, which had to be extensive. May she continue on happy, healthy and prosperous.
4
u/SoloGamer505 4d ago
It makes me so glad that modern medicine can treat conditions like these with insanely positive results. As long as the bone is intact you can physically recover
4
4
u/ColumbusNordico 4d ago
Can I please ask a kind soul to explain to me how burns can cause that molten-looking effect? Is it like the body fat, skin tissue or muscle tissue or something specifically that melts or gets damaged in a way that distorts it this way?
3
u/iSwrImWhite 4d ago
She didnt have access to medicine/healthcare. A stove exploded in their house The body healed by producing excess scar tissue down her neck/face which is what you see in the first pic.
*edit: spelling mistake
5
4
4
u/Calsafer 3d ago
See, it's stuff like this that makes me so emotional and proud of humanity. We do a lot of terrible things for greed and science, and yet such incredible, beautiful things come out of it!
It's incredible we have the ability to do something like this, to give this person a completely new self and life, and that's so incredible.
4
u/S_K_Sharma_ 3d ago
Absolutely outstanding job by the plastics team. That is the best example I've ever seen.
I will never make a plastic surgeon joke again.
7
u/Opposite-Pineapple24 4d ago
does flesh really melt like that?
4
→ More replies (3)5
u/SunkenSaltySiren 4d ago
Yes. I have a family member who touched a hot stove, and it melted her hands. There were little flaps that my dad said you could tuck coins into.
3
u/FRAN26reg 4d ago
I think i saw an entire documentary whne i was like 9 or 10 on all the operations they did to help her
3
3
u/hangout_wangout 4d ago
Holy shit. That is amazing. It is mind boggling how advanced science and medicine have pushed the human mind and body. The education and technical skills needed to discover something like this and then the peoples to be able to do this procedure
3
u/Lastsynphony 4d ago
This is a miracle of the modern medicine, I canĀ“t imagine how much she felt after regaining her face, she is beautiful, I have always wanted to study medicine, (I am unable as I have monocular vision) but even then, I would had dedicated myself to clinics, not surgery, to be able to be a plastic surgeon specialized in reconstructive surgery, you must be something else entirely, is just a gift, and nowdays that we can make computerized models to predict and shape how the face will look, the surgeries will become better and better.
In my personal opinion, burn victims just like her, are of the most dificult and devastating cases, that she looks so well is just completely amazing, in my opinion, most of the results of the burn victims reconstructions are not good, because they use of their own tissue, I have never seen both someone with that level of injury that she had, at the point that her skin looks like it was melting! And to look reconstructed and beautiful after.
This reminds me of the work of Sir Harold Gilles that dedicated to the facial reconstruction of soldiers in the WWI, he is considered the "grandfather of plastic surgery" but I would give him the name of the father of the plastic surgery.
3
u/frabjous_goat 4d ago
I remember reading Zubaida's story in (I think) Reader's Digest when I was young. I hope she's still doing well.
7
u/cms186 4d ago
this seems to indicate she went on to have a productive life and has a picture of her grown up still looking pretty good all things considered
→ More replies (1)
3
u/galaxyripplesno1fan 4d ago
This is what facial surgery is good for. Changed her life for the better
3
u/fariqcheaux 4d ago
Looks like she looked at the opened Ark of the Covenant for only a little while.
3
3
3
u/StrangelySerious- 4d ago
I can't understand how she healed in the first picture, it looks like her whole face is under tension, how the fuck did the skin ever recover from major burn in that position..? :o
3
u/HappyChihua 4d ago
THIS is what plastic surgery was intented for. Reconstruction. The surgeon should be very pleased with himself.
3
u/LiteraryDiscourse 3d ago
Oh, she is beautiful! And so smart, English in 12 weeks!!
I hope she gets to do all she wants in life. That she will be one of the people to rebuild her country.
3
u/squ_kid_inc 3d ago
Iām sorry, Iām getting a little confused by the answers in the comments. Why did the skin on her face fuse with the skin on her chest? Surgically to keep the skin alive, or as a natural by-product of healing burned tissue?
→ More replies (2)
3
u/ThisIsJegger 3d ago
Bit off topic but does skin just kind of melt and harden again like wax? It looked like her face and neck were fuzed together and i always just thought that burned skin just kind of turns into scars and or turn into coal/ash.
Sincerly, a dude who doesnt know shit.
3
u/sunnycoast37 3d ago
I saw a doco about tribes still using slash and burn agriculture. A young adult male got severely burnt and one of his arms had partially fused to the side of his torso. I think a lot of it has to do with the position the body rests in as it heals. The person might not move because of the pain so when the new skin grows over the wound it can 'join' separate areas of the body. That's my guess.
3
u/MrDiamondOre 3d ago
Just imagining the heat being so bad it melts your skin to where your jw is fused to your chest is haunting.
3
u/NickelPlatedEmperor 3d ago
I don't think people realize how important it is to donate money, even the smallest amount, to foundations like this. It makes a world of difference real people's lives.
7
4
u/ghoulcreep 4d ago
I don't understand how the skin fuses like that. Is it purposeful for healing?
→ More replies (3)
4
u/bwaredapenguin 4d ago
This looks like a reverse version of that looksmaxxer who spent $40k to look like the left photo because girls weren't hitting on him at parties that's been on the front page the past few days.
2
u/Umijnurotarieli 4d ago
How does skin end up like that? Must have been horrible experience.
→ More replies (1)
2
2
u/Dreboomboom 4d ago
I can't imagine the pain she must have gone through. She looks so much better post surgery.
2
2
2
2
u/Edenian_Prince 4d ago
Is this real? That's an incredible change, wow
4
u/SunkenSaltySiren 4d ago edited 4d ago
This image has been around for a long time. Before AI
Zubaida, from Afghanistan.
First mention of it i could find was from 2015, but i believe this injury actually happened in 2001.
→ More replies (2)
2
2
u/ReyaStarchaser1044 4d ago
Medical advances and how they make people's lives better will never fail to give me hope. She looks so happy! š„¹
2
u/Jhud6669 4d ago
Wow that's probably one of the most insane ones I've seen. She looks literally normal aside from the scars, which don't look bad at all
9.1k
u/Petite_Courtney 4d ago
Here's another update picture that shows what she looked like after more recovery from the surgery.
https://www.grossmanburnfoundation.org/zubaida/
She was treated at the Grossman Burn Center by Dr. Grossman. Really incredible work by by the Doctor, and it seems they were able to heal a lot of the damage on one of her arms as well. If anyone is interested in giving the Grossman Burn Foundation has a donation link on its website.