Pune: 25 Year Old Girl’s Covering Of Her Skull & Ear Got Pulled Off In Factory Accident, Saved By Hospital

Pune, 13th January 2023: Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital, the multispecialty tertiary care hospital successfully saved the life of a 25-year-old girl whose covering of the skull, complete skin & ear got pulled off in an accident at the factory.

25 year old Sarita (name changed) was standing near the machine in the factory in Chakan without her PPE Kit as there was no power supply. Suddenly the power came on and her hair was near the motor. It got entangled and everything got pulled. She lost the complete skin, covering of the skull from above her eyelid to the back of her neck. One of her ears also got pulled along with the skin up till the margin of the other ear. Her left ear was completely lost in this accident. Sarita was in a state of complete shock and in this condition along with a big devastating wound, she was rushed to a nearby hospital. Her condition was very critical and the other hospital referred her to a higher centre, hence she was brought to Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital’s Accident & Emergency department.

“We assessed her primarily and resuscitated her. She was then admitted to the ICU and immediately taken to the Operation Theatre. We secured the bleeding, debrided her and removed any grease, Oil, particles etc. which must have got stuck to her skull and grafted her. But that was just like a time buying procedure until she becomes hemodynamically (vitally) stable”, shared Dr. Vikram Wagh, Consultant Plastic Surgeon, Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital. He further added, “She was in shock. Her BP was not beyond 70 so we had to give her support. Then gradually she was weaned off the ventilator and she regained consciousness and became a little more normal”.

Once Sarita was stabilized, another procedure of skin grafting was started. The procedures were spaced out according to the condition of her health. In total 14 procedures ranging between one hour to two & a half hours were done to normalize Sarita. With every procedure she lost some blood, and became weak. Her health deteriorated and there were multiple ICU transfers. There were 6 major and remaining smaller procedures done. It included drilling holes in her skull. This was done to get the blood out from the marrows till the surface. The stem cell in this blood helps in growing the new granulation layer which makes for a good base for further skin grafting.

“While we did this procedure, the entire area to granulate would take 6 months, so we had to import skin from Germany for her. The company was kind enough to give one as a sample and even billed us for one. The cost was borne by her employers and Aditya Birla Memorial hospital. Skin was applied other than the other skin graft area. Slowly and steadily, she recovered. Eventually she became better and then when skin became fine, we gave her a week to accommodate it as normal life”, further shared Dr. Vikram Wagh.

“I had lost all hopes and wasn’t sure whether I would stay alive or not. The doctors calmed me down and treated me. Finally, when I was discharged, I couldn’t believe that I am going back on my own feet”, shared the patient Sarita (Name Changed).

Sarita was in hospital for 3.5 months. Though she will not have hair due to loss of hair follicle skin, her skull has a skin layer now and she is stabilized. She is still undergoing dressing every 2 weeks.