"It was a lovely sunny day, and not long into the ride we were going up a hill on a B road, and this guy comes up behind us at speed, and over the drunk drive limit. He was on his phone, racing up behind us and we were all in line. He wanted to swerve around us, but there was a car coming the other way, so it was either smash into the car or smash into us."
"surgeons tried to save his eye but they were worried any infection could spread from my eye down the optic nerve to the brain so the eye was removed. The decision was then made to go for free flap, taking tissue with blood arteries and veins and plumbing it into my neck, the flap completely covering the side of my face."
"In the early days of my recovery, I felt very vulnerable, and would not expose myself to social situations. It took me a long time to feel comfortable about my image, how I thought people looked at me and what they thought of me but I have come a long way in that respect."
Dave Richards, 75, sustained full-thickness burns to his head, back and pelvis damage, and multiple fractured ribs after a speeding, intoxicated driver struck his cycling group in July 2021. Infection risk led to removal of his eye and surgeons performed a free-flap reconstruction transferring tissue with blood vessels to cover the side of his face. The NHS fitted a customised 3D-printed facial prosthesis matching hair, eye and skin tones, produced at the Bristol 3D medical centre, the UK’s first NHS site to combine scanning, design and printing. Recovery involved significant emotional adjustment and gradual return to social confidence.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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