Sandi undergoes operation

Sandi undergoes operation

PERTH, Australia (AFP): An Indonesian youth born with a face
so deformed he had considered killing himself, has undergone the
first of two operations to correct the problem, surgeons said
Saturday.

The surgical team, led by Perth plastic surgeon Tim Cooper,
carried out complex surgery on 17-year-old Sandi Gisisi, from a
coconut farming family on the tiny island of Ternate in the
Halmahera group, east of Sulawesi.

After the first operation which was carried out at the
beginning of this month, the team is now preparing for a second
operation Tuesday in Perth's Mount Hospital.

Cooper met Gisisi in Ambon last year when he spent two weeks
there as a member of an Interplast Australia team which carried
out surgery on more than 60 children who turned up for help.

"I realized then that I could not fix him up properly without
bringing him back to Perth," Cooper said last month as Gisisi
arrived in Australia for treatment.

Cooper said Saturday the initial surgery to correct a gaping
hole in Sandi's upper jaw had been even more successful than he
had expected.

He had thought it would be necessary to take a flap of skin
from Sandi's forearm to reconstruct the area, but there was
enough tissue inside the mouth for him to work with.

One of the nurses looking after Sandi, Marie Sheehan, said: "I
think he's a bit overwhelmed by it all, but he's putting on a
very brave face."