Child's face restored after accident, a first in Mexico

Surgeons have re-attached a large part of the face of a seven year-old child torn in a pitbull attack, Mexico's state-run Social Security Institute said Tuesday.

"This is the first facial re-implant that has been successfully carried out in the country," said Juan Francisco Salazar, an Institute spokesman in the northern state of Nuevo Leon.

Raul Carrizales, age seven, was attacked by a pitbull on June 26 in the city of Monterrey. The fierce dog tore off a large portion of his lower face.

A neighborhood watchman who saw the attack picked up the piece of the boy's face and put it in a plastic bag, and then in a container with water an ice, which allowed surgeons to later fix the boy's face.

The operation on Carrizales took nearly six hours and involved two general surgeons, two plastic surgeons, two nurses and an anesthesiologist, Salazar said.

"The next step is rehabilitation, so that he will again have feeling and movement in his face," Salazar added.

(c) 2011 AFP