ROME (ITALPRESS) – Facial reconstruction surgeries have become primary due to accidents related to some daily activities at home or at work. The primary causes are domestic accidents (38 percent); followed by sports injuries (31 percent), traffic accidents (12 percent) and violent incidents (12 percent). In 60% of them are patients under 30 years of age. This was the finding of the 27th Congress of the European Association for Cranio Maxillo Facial Surgery – EACMFS, which was recently held in Rome in the presence of 3,000 specialists from more than 100 countries. Leading the proceedings were two Italians, Professor Manlio Galiè, President of EACMFS, Director of the Operative Unit of Maxillofacial Surgery at the Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria of Ferrara and professor of the Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation at the University of Ferrara, and Professor Valentino Valentini, Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the Congress and Full Professor in Maxillofacial Surgery at La Sapienza University and Director UOC Maxillofacial Surgery Policlinico Umberto I in Rome.”Causing most maxillofacial trauma are activities that are considered simple and not risky,” explains Professor Galiè. “According to a case history of 9,543 procedures surveyed in the international literature, the largest statistic on the frequency of trauma, 38 percent of cases are related to domestic accidents, involving mostly men. Causes may be related to unconscious use of chainsaws or falls from a ladder or swing for children. “Then there are the new road accidents. “If in recent decades the obligation of belts, helmets, airbags had contributed to a decrease in fractures of the nose, cheekbones, mandibles, jaws, in the last five years in Rome and in the large metropolises there has been a reversal of the trend,” Professor Valentini points out.The full-face helmet, which would shelter almost the entire maxillofacial system, is not very widespread, to the advantage of lighter helmets, sometimes not even approved. In addition, there has been a significant increase in scooters and scooters, with the latter particularly prone to accidents: they do not require a helmet and have a lightweight construction, with small wheels and a simple handlebar to steer them; the infrastructure then is not always safe. The consequence is that when you fall, you tend to hit your face on the ground with greater frequency and intensity. In short, this new mobility has led to a disruption of road trauma that is changing the etiology and types of fractures, given the violent impact that the face undergoes. “In sports, there are some known cases of athletes using masks to protect themselves after major surgeries, such as France’s Kylian Mbappè at the last Europeans or Victor Osimhen the last few seasons with Napoli. Maxillofacial surgery has precisely in those who play sports 31% of cases. “Often traumas due to sports collisions occur even at the youth level, with fractures of the nose, cheekbone, orbit, and jaw,” Galiè points out. “Competitiveness has become exasperated and sports traumas are increasing, especially in sports such as soccer, basketball, cycling, and skiing, as there are fewer protections and there are dynamics that tend to project the face forward. In order to play sports, one must be trained and understand when it may be appropriate to take a step backward. “Large cities are then experiencing an increase in incidents of violence. “The increase in petty crime for the purpose of robbery or the simple spread of baby gangs has also led to an impact in the surgical field, where among the injuries from aggression, stab wounds are increasingly frequent, sometimes even complex to heal,” adds Valentini.The face, in fact, in addition to blood vessels is also characterized by the presence of nerves, including the facial nerve that makes the muscles of the face move. A maxillofacial surgery center must therefore be ready to deal with nerve injuries as well as fractures of the face. “To cope with these new types of trauma, maxillofacial surgery has equipped itself with technological innovations: minimally invasive surgery, endoscopy, and artificial intelligence represent the latest frontiers that can minimize and in some cases eliminate the effects of violent trauma, as well as malformations and the consequences of tumors of the head and neck area. Indeed, the human face is our calling card, the reflection of our emotions and the key to our relationships, which is why maxillofacial surgery proves to be a vital resource for restoring not only functionality but also dignity and self-esteem to patients.Also coming to the 27th EACMFS Congress was the contribution of Professor Eduardo Rodriguez, director of the department of plastic surgery at Nyu Langone in New York City, who in 2023 performed the world’s first transplant of an entire eye-and part of the face-performed on a 46-year-old American man who survived a very serious work injury due to a shock from high electrical voltage. This does not mean that he recovered his vision, but the quality of the eyeball and retina returned very well. After all, the intent was not to get back sight, but to encourage research for further progress. “From this case, new frontiers could be opened for the recovery of sight in patients with trauma, malformations, and neoplasms that have caused the loss of an eye,” says Professor Galiè. “However, the path is still to be built and must always be marked by patient protection. Technology is progressively eliminating all limitations, but considerations must be made from an ethical, moral, psychosocial and sustainability point of view, keeping at the center not the technology but the patient himself.”
– photo press office Diessecom -(ITALPRESS).
