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The patient suffered a horrific workplace accident involving heavy machinery, which tore off a large part of her scalp and her ear with it. The damage to her scalp and vascular network was so severe that restoring the ear at the time was impossible, so the procedure was performed to save the patient’s aural orifice so it could be reattached to her head later.
For those curious as to why the foot:
They chose the foot because the arteries and veins there are compatible with those found in the ear. The foot’s skin and soft tissue are also similarly thin to the head’s.
exactly my thought. You have no choice, an ear is going to be grafted to somewhere on your body. Why NOT choose the center of your forehead? especially if it’s temporary.
unless the damage was so severe the foot was the best spot :(
My guess is they chose the foot because the vasculature is very superficial over a relatively flat area with lots of decent sized vascular branches. So, they can tap into the blood supply relatively easily. Also the patient would probably be less inclined (or fully incapable) of fucking with it - you’d be amazed how many patients turn a nearly invisible incision line into a jagged, infected mess, cuz they just can’t resist picking at it. And I get it - I’ll pick myself bloody if I notice so much as a bump starting to grow on my hand… a full blown ear would demand way more attention, so keeping it out of sight / out of mind was likely a strategic move.
thats kind of amazing that you can just graft one body part onto another while waiting for the correct spot to heal enough to actually have a successful reattachment surgery.
The ear is about the only thing this really works with. There’s not much special going on with it, it’s just shaped flesh and cartilage. You don’t even need nerves in the ear to use it, since literally everything happens inside your head.
You couldn’t do this with pretty much anything else really.
They do that with feet and hands routinely.
Who does?
I’ve heard this idea has been kicked around for a few years now…
Ugh, take your upvote and get out.
It’s about damn time!
Finally, the dogs can hear themselves bark.
Foul Tarnished…
Isn’t that Margit’s opening line?
It is, oops, Godrick prefers lowly Tarnished.
Sometimes it can be a perk keeping an ear to the ground.
I bet somebody has this on their 2026 bingo card
That ear on the foot pic was awesome. Wish there was a shot of the ear back on her head!
I imagine, given that they didn’t use her full name, that she wasn’t willing, which is understandable.
fucking surreal, kudos to the medical team who did this
Pranks that went too far
Congrats. A human spider.
“accident”
“My eyes are up here.”
