{"id":18810,"date":"2024-12-23T05:09:50","date_gmt":"2024-12-23T06:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=18810"},"modified":"2024-12-23T11:27:07","modified_gmt":"2024-12-23T11:27:07","slug":"my-surgeon-saved-my-smile-with-new-hologram-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=18810","title":{"rendered":"‘My surgeon saved my smile with new hologram technology’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"SusannahSusannah Morgan<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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When Susannah Morgan learned that an operation to remove a benign tumour in her neck could leave her with a crooked smile she was “frantic”.<\/p>\n

The 45-year-old was advised to have it removed in case it turned cancerous but she was warned the surgery would also leave her with a dent in her neck and possible paralysis. <\/p>\n

Desperate to avoid being permanently disfigured, she researched alternatives and discovered a new technique using a hologram which could save her smile. <\/p>\n

Last month the mother-of-one, from Edinburgh, became the first person to undergo the pioneering operation in Scotland.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"SusannahSusannah Morgan<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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She was initially told that, to remove the pleomorphic adenoma, surgeons would have to cut out her largest salivary gland, which contains the facial nerve.<\/p>\n

But the new hologram technique allows surgeons to pinpoint the exact location of the facial nerve, leaving less chance of it being severed. <\/p>\n

It also allows surgeons to open up the salivary gland, rather than remove it. <\/p>\n

Susannah paid to have a hi-tech MRI scan in London, which produced a hologram.<\/p>\n

It was then used by Iain Nixon, the surgeon who performed the operation, in Livingston, West Lothian, last month. <\/p>\n

“Iain has saved my smile, I’m so thankful to him” Susannah told BBC Scotland News.<\/p>\n

“I feel on top of the world, I’m on a high and it’s giving me a real buzz.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"SusannahSusannah Morgan<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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When she woke from surgery, Susannah’s smile was crooked – but medics explained this was temporary because the facial nerve had to be moved to get to the tumour. <\/p>\n

“I cried when I saw my squint smile straight after the surgery so to think it could have been permanent if Iain hadn’t used this pioneering technique doesn’t bear thinking about,” she said. <\/p>\n

“He had to lift the facial nerve, which is like a fine bit of spaghetti, to get to the tumour and because he had to man-handle it they say it gets bruised so that weakens it temporarily.”<\/p>\n

She said if it had been cut by accident during the operation then she would have had permanent paralysis in her face.<\/p>\n

The new hologram technique made it less likely for the surgeon to have an accident.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"SusannahSusannah Morgan<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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Susannah first went to the doctor at the end of November 2022 after finding a lump under her ear.<\/p>\n

However the training doctor thought it was just a salivary stone and she was told to eat sour sweets to get the salivary juices going.<\/p>\n

“It’s such a rare thing I’ve got that a lot of GPs don’t know about it and I had bloods taken and they were all fine so it was just dismissed.<\/p>\n

“I didn’t think too much of it because I just thought it was a bit swollen and didn’t think it was a tumour.”<\/p>\n

But then it started growing and she could see it bulging out of her neck until it reached 3.5cm (1in) so she returned to the doctor a year later.<\/p>\n

“I was really shocked when I was told it was a tumour. I was relived to hear it was benign but he told me if I don’t get it out it could turn cancerous.”<\/p>\n

“Some people chose not to have surgery because it’s really scary to have surgery on your facial nerve because there is a lot of risk to it.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"SusannahSusannah Morgan<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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Mr Nixon, Susannah’s surgeon, said people have six major saliva glands and Susannah’s tumour was on the largest one under the ear.<\/p>\n

“This is pioneering technology and is allowing a more minimally invasive approach to tumour surgery which can be quite disfiguring and this heralds the possibility of surgery with a lower side effect profile as a result.<\/p>\n

“With a traditional operation you lift up the skin and you’ve got to be careful so that you don’t damage the nerve because you know it must be close.<\/p>\n

“But if you know where it is before you start you can be much more confident and more targeted.<\/p>\n

“That is the advantage of this pioneering technology and it makes it even safer.”<\/p>\n

He added that the operation had saved her smile and stopped her having a dent in her neck.<\/p>\n

“It is very exciting and I think this will become standard procedure in the future.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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