In Lisa Gross’s article, “New Hope for Soldiers Disfigured in War,” she chronicles the numerous injuries that plague American soldiers during war, and the new methods being pioneered by one plastic surgeon to help soldiers reduce the extent of their injures. Staff Sgt. Nelson had narrowly avoided numerous brushes with death upon fighting in Iraq, but one month before his deployment was concluding he encountered a suicide bomber who seriously injured him. The blast crushed his facial skeleton, incinerated most of his face, and crushed his right leg. Upon returning back to base, Nelson encountered the help of Army plastic surgeon, Col. Robert Hale. Hale had recently left his practice in Los Angeles to aid serve American soldiers. According to…show more content… The Biomask concept would heal and reduce the amount of scarring, by using a Negative-pressure wound therapy which would speed up the healing process. Despite not having the technology readily available for Sgt. Nelson, the face repairing technology will implemented for the soldiers in the coming years. Ultimately, Gross concludes her article, by stating that the face will always be a vulnerable place for injuries, but thanks to surgeons such as Hale, soldiers after Nelson will be able to experience the benefit of the Biomask.
Evidence:
Evidence I: “Some 40% of those severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan suffered devastating blows to the face.” This quote supports the authors claim that a majority of injuries in war involve soldier’s faces.
Evidence II: “The trenches of War World I exposed men’s faces to a fusillade of shrapnel, spurring unprecedented surgeries to reconstruct what remained,”. . . “But body armor and helmets don’t protect the face. And the advances that saved so many lives in Iraq and Afghanistan left surgeons struggling to fix harrowing facial injuries. . . .” The quote supports the authors claim that there has been a slow progression for advancement in face related reconstructive
