12-year-old Mia was enjoying an afternoon at a friend’s birthday party when in a matter of moments, the day took an unexpected turn.
When reaching down to pet the friend’s dog, it became startled and bit Mia in the face. The bite tore off most of her left nostril and left a puncture in her cheek. Immediately, Mia was taken to the emergency room where doctors moved quickly to treat her injuries. It became clear that Mia would need reconstructive surgery.
Determined to find expert surgeons for Mia’s procedure, her parents turned to Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware. “Living close by we had always heard that the best pediatric care is at Nemours,” shares her mother, Courtney. “We knew for something this serious we needed the best hospital.”
At their first appointment with Dr. Mario Aycart and the plastic surgery team at Nemours Children’s, it was explained to Mia’s family that part of her ear would need to be removed and surgically attached to her nose to replace her nostril that was torn in the dog bite. This is called a “composite graft” where the skin and cartilage are taken together to closely match the tissues of the nose that were lost. “Every single part of the experience at Nemours from start to finish felt like it was centered around Mia,” shares Courtney. “Each nurse we came in contact with was kind and helpful, explaining to all of us what was going on and what to expect. The child life staff were truly amazing, the little extra touches of stickers, kid activities, and snacks helped to ease so much of Mia’s anxieties, especially on surgery day. My husband and I kept looking at each other and saying we were so thankful to live so close to such a great resource for our children.”
“While all of the staff we worked with were great, I feel a special thanks is owed to Mia’s plastic surgeon, Dr. Aycart,” says Courtney. “He not only has a calm and professional demeanor that immediately made us all feel much more at ease, but he is so incredibly skilled at his craft. Looking through the pictures of the injury, post-surgery, and the healing today, I can’t express how thankful we are that he was able to save the shape and look of Mia’s nose. There were a few really hard days after the surgery when we took Mia home and had to ice her nose for 15 minutes of every hour for 72 hours straight. The composite graft that Dr. Aycart had taken from her ear and attached to her nose turned white, then a dark purple, before it finally began to appear a more normal skin tone. There was the fear that her body would reject it, and it would fall off. Dr. Aycart made himself available to us throughout that time and after, ensuring we felt supported and had quick answers to our questions as they occurred. I simply cannot say enough about how well he cared for Mia, and our whole family, and the difference he made! I would choose or recommend him over and over, if ever placed in a similar situation.”
“I could not have asked for a better patient and family to partner with for this challenging reconstruction,” shares Dr. Aycart. ”They did everything I asked of them and more. This also highlights the wonderful specialty of plastic surgery and I thank God for the opportunity that I’ve been given to help. One of the founders of the specialty, Italian surgeon, Gaspare Tagliacozzi, probably said it best: ‘We restore, rebuild, and make whole those parts which nature hath given, but which fortune has taken away. Not so much that it may delight the eye, but that it might buoy up the spirit, and help the mind of the afflicted.’”
Today, Mia is doing great, and her injuries have completely healed. “We will always be able to tell that there’s a little something different about Mia’s nose when we look very closely at it, but overall, it has healed up better than we had ever expected,” says Courtney. “Nobody would be able to tell anything happened, without knowing her story.” Moving forward, Mia and her family plan to be extra cautious around dogs, even ones you know well.
“Any surgery is scary when it’s your child,” shares Courtney. “It felt good to be in a place that is centered around the care and needs of children. The kindness shown to us throughout that hard time reinforced that Nemours is where you want to be when your child is in need of illness or injury care.”
