Now, liposuction can remove cancer lump

AHMEDABAD: Bharat Shah, an auto driver, underwent surgery for advanced-stage buccal mucosa cancer in 2013. But his trauma did not end there. A flap of skin from the abdomen was used to reconstruct the cheek that caused a huge lump on the area. To hide his facial disfigurement, the 45-year-old Shahpur resident started wearing a scarf around the face. However, people mistook him for a miscreant affecting his livelihood.

Doctors gave a new lease of life to Shah last week when a minimally invasive liposuction was performed to remove the excess fat around the cheek. Setting a new trend, cancer surgeons are now referring oral cancer patients to plastic surgeons for liposuction, which so far helped people shrink their girth.

"The aim of the surgery is to give a complete functional and cosmetic rehabilitation to people," said plastic surgeon Dr Bijal Parikh.

Another plastic surgeon Dr Hemant Saraiya said: "If a patient is overweight and we take a tissue from chest, high fat lies between the muscle and skin. Through liposuction, we remove the fat tissue from the face."

Cancer surgeon Dr Kaustubh Patel said: "Surgical resections often create large defects accompanied by dysfunction and disfigurement. Speech, swallowing, control of saliva, and mastication can all be adversely affected. Therefore, rehabilitation is an essential phase of cancer care."