Soldier who lost ear in accident gets another after doctors 'grow' it on her arm

Fox News ^ | 07/14/2019 | Dr Manny Alvarez

[DFG]

Pvt. Shamika Burrage lost her entire left ear during a car accident on her way to visit family in Texas, says a report from the U.S. Army. The soldier needed counseling to deal with her emotions after the accident, including dealing with discontentment about the way she looked.

At the urging of her counselor, Burrage looked into plastic surgery for the missing ear. That’s when she found surgeons at William Beaumont Army Medical Center (WBAMC) who had a radical idea.

The medical team wanted to use cartilage from Burrage’s ribs to form a new, non-artificial ear. The ear would then need to “grow” under the skin of the soldier’s arm before transplanting could take place.

According to Lt. Col. Owen Johnson III, chief, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, he saw that Burrage had “her whole life ahead of her.” Young soldiers like her deserve the best option they can get, Johnson stated in the U.S. Army report.

[Jamestown1630]

We have a young relation who was born with a severe case of cleft palate. After about 6 years and several surgeries, today he looks like a perfectly normal little kid. Surgeons, medical science, and bioengineering are working miracles today.

[Old Yeller]

And we all thought Van Gogh was crazy.

[lizma2]

3-D printing has had major advances in medical science and transplantation. Cornea, kidney, liver, heat and bone.

I can’t even wrap my brain around it. Need “3-D Printers for Dummies.”

From what I can tell ears were one of the first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82t84VIwlTE

South Africa seems to be on the forefront in transplant surgery. Remember Christian Bernard?

[Eagles6]

Wonder why the Army is paying for this rather than her car insurance.

[PistolPaknMama]

How did it know it was supposed to be an ear? Why didn’t it grow into a thumb or a nose?

[aquila48]

[carcraft]

I heard about a similar case here in Georgia. A fellow had his ear bite off in a fight. They used the same technique to form an outer ear. Lee Grizzard, a Southern columnists, wrote an interesting column about it. Seems there was a town crazy who testified about a similar case where a fellow had an ear bite off in a fight. The town crazywas called to testify. An attorney asked if he was in the bar when the fight occurred. The town outcast said no. Well then how can you be sure Mr Smith bite off the ear? The town crazy said easy, I was watching outside when Smith spit it out!

[Jamestown1630]

They probably shaped the cartilage on a model of the ear:

https://www.livescience.com/62532-how-to-grow-ear-on-forearm.html

[norwaypinesavage]

I have a friend whose father lost most of his face in an industrial accident more than a half century ago. The father was able to regain function by tying his arm to his face, to let the skin regrow. Then first attempt failed (indicated by the smell), and a second attempt was made with the second arm. It was "successful". The father was horribly disfigured, but was a great man.

He raised a great family, and his legacy lives on. I, and many others, have no greater man for a friend, than his son is.

[Deaf Smith]

Johnny Paycheck...Colorado Kool-Aid.

[Jamestown1630]

I think she was active duty when the accident occurred; and I don’t know how the costs of these things are divvied up.

I suspect that she was a good candidate for trying something that hadn’t been done often, and agreed to it. Her willingness to go through with this has probably been a big help to research and experimentation, all aside from the benefit to her personally.

But why would you worry about the cost, and who is paying, when there is so much here that is more fascinating and inspiring?

I suspect you’d be more interested in what really matters in this story if you were yourself disfigured in an accident.