A 23-year-old newlywed woman from Varanasi suddenly experienced a stinging pain and burning sensation around 2 a.m. while travelling by train to Delhi on April 30, 2006. As fumes started coming out of her body, Pragya Prasun Singh was shocked when a doctor travelling by the same train started pouring water on her, saying she had an acid attack. Her entire body was disfigured, and she underwent 17 plastic surgeries to regain full functionality.
Despite having acid thrown on her by a criminal, her spirits were high. She was hospitalised for three and a half months until she became stable, and frequented hospitals over the next two years, undergoing multiple reconstruction and grafting surgeries. Pragya, now 40 and currently living in Bengaluru, started the AtiJeevan Foundation in 2013 to assist acid attack and burn injury survivors like her. Besides the timely medical support she received, Pragya credits her return to normalcy to the undying support from her loving husband and two daughters.
Why is plastic surgery needed?
Acid attacks often cause severe damage, including deep burns, serious scars and tissue deformities. Most acid attack victims are women, and it is often thrown at their faces intentionally to disfigure their appearance, says Dr K Sridhar, director and senior consultant, Institute of Craniofacial, Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery, SIMS – SRM Institutes For Medical Science, Chennai. “The aesthetic parts of the body are affected, and they have to undergo reconstructive plastic surgery,” he adds.
“Acid when thrown on one’s body starts trickling down and burrowing underneath the skin on its way. It’s different from a normal flame burn where everything gets burned at the same time,” explains Dr Sridhar, adding that in case of acid burns, the severity or depth varies even on the same surface.
In Pragya’s case, her left eye, nose, ears and mouth were affected. She recalls undergoing eye surgery, hoping to get her eyesight back.
At the time, her left eye was covered with a bandage while the right eye was open, as the eyelid reconstruction was yet to take place. “I would sleep with my eye open. In addition, I could neither hear as my ear holes weren’t reconstructed nor open my mouth until the surgery. Also, I realised that my left eye was beyond repair post-surgery, and the doctors replaced it with a prosthetic eye,” she said.
How plastic surgery improves functionality
According to Dr Sridhar, plastic surgery plays a major role in regaining functionality, where procedures like nasal reconstruction help to breathe easier, ear reconstruction improves hearing and oral surgeries help one eat and speak. In addition, it also helps people who suffer acute burns due to fire accidents and electric shocks, he adds.
Speaking about eyelid reconstruction, Dr Siril Sathyanandam, senior plastic surgeon, Kamineni Hospitals, Hyderabad, says that acid attacks can cause significant damage to the eyelids, affecting vision and eye health. “The surgery repairs eyelid function and restores proper eyelid closure, thereby protecting the eyes. Such surgeries may involve eyelid tightening, skin grafts or reconstruction using local tissue flaps,” he adds.
In addition, acid burns often cause nasal deformities, making breathing difficult and affecting the overall facial appearance. “Nasal reconstruction surgeries aim to restore the nasal structure and function, including procedures like septoplasty, rhinoplasty and cartilage grafting,” explains Dr Sathyanandam.
Plastic surgery improves quality of life
Acid does not only affect the face. As it starts to move down, the upper body and sometimes even the lower body gets burned and disfigured, says Dr Sridhar.
Plastic surgery not only addresses the physical injuries of the survivors, but also has a profound impact on their emotional well-being. “Plastic surgery techniques can help restore the facial appearance, minimising the visible damage caused by the attack. This helps the survivors to regain self-confidence, self-esteem and a sense of normalcy. These psychological benefits often translate into improved social interactions and increased participation in activities,” explains Dr Sathyanandam.
Through AtiJeevan, Pragya has helped over 250 women regain their functionality and increase their self-confidence by providing reconstructive plastic surgeries free of charge.
Common procedures for survivors
The surgeries and procedures required for acid attack survivors vary depending on the extent and location of the burns, say doctors.
Dr Sathyanandam lists some common procedures for regaining functionality:
- Skin grafting: It involves taking healthy skin from one part of the body and transplanting it onto the affected area. This helps cover large burn wounds, promotes healing and minimises scarring.
- Scar revision: This technique aims to minimise the appearance of scars so that they become less conspicuous and blend in with the surrounding skin. It helps improve the texture, colour and overall appearance of the affected area.
- Reconstructive surgery: This is done in severe cases when there’s extensive damage to the tissue. It involves complex procedures like microvascular surgery, tissue expansion or free tissue transfer to rebuild facial features, restore functionality and enhance aesthetic features.
Dr Sridhar says that an acid attack survivor would need at least three to four plastic surgeries on average. These procedures cannot be carried out all at once and should be conducted in stages, with a gap of three weeks between each surgery. “While the surgeries will help to regain functionality, they won’t deliver a perfect result in terms of aesthetic appearance,” he adds.
Takeaways
- An acid attack is a gruesome act carried out with the intention to disfigure an individual’s appearance.
- Besides damaging the aesthetic parts of the body, acid severely affects the basic functionality of an individual’s ability to see, breathe, eat and hear.
- Plastic surgery techniques like skin grafting, scar revision and reconstructive procedures can play a significant role in restoring one’s functionality and enhancing their aesthetic appearance.
