Injured in horrific bull attack, man gets a new face within a year

In an incredible story of recovery, determination, and making through even the difficult of circumstances, a man from Rajasthan’s Bikaner has got a new face after undergoing a series of reconstructive operations following a horrific injury in an animal attack.

Karnee Bishnoi, 38, was left with a mangled and completely torn face when a raging bull attacked him in September 2020. Bishnoi was in his vehicle when the animal charged at him.

Bishnoi, who works as the Operating Head of an FMCG company in the city, was driving the car with his side window rolled down.. As he slowed down to allow the bulls pass by on the road, one of the animals came charging at him, attacking his face with its horns.

According to a press release by Max Saket, the hospital that treated him, Bishnoi lost his right eye, in addition to having the right side of his face, including his nose, lips, and scalp, torn to tatters.

“He was pulled out of the car and thrown onto the road but the bull left him alive,” the note said. His friend, who was travelling with him, was not as badly injured and managed to take Bishnoi to a hospital along with the victim’s sister.

However, the extent of injuries was such that the local hospital in Bikaner was unsure as to what to do, the press note said. “They managed to stem the bleed with packing and some big sutures but expressed their helplessness to go any further as they lacked the expertise.”

Upon being transferred to the hospital in Saket, surgeons were shocked to see that Bishnoi had managed to stay alive despite the grave injuries. On finding that his “ventilation tube to be blocked with some material which was found to be his pulverised brain,” the neurosurgeons and plastic surgery team were called in. COVID-19 protocol meant that the surgeons had to put on full PPEs for 10 hours while “painstakingly putting together bone, flesh, nose pieces”.

After another surgery that lasted nine hours, the team “not only managed to save his life but also restored the face to a human form.” Following this, Mr Bishnoi made what was described to be an “uneventful recovery” and resumed his work.

Four months later, he underwent second-stage reconstruction surgery. At this time, the right side of his face was “completely paralysed with loss of smiling, inability to lift right side eyebrow and forehead and a saddled depressed nose.” For the first time in India, “some ingenious constructive surgery techniques” such as “forehead muscle to muscle neurotisation” were performed.

By July, Bishnoi was able to move his right eyebrow and forehead and was “getting better every day.” In addition to this, his facial shape and symmetry are also good, the hospital added.

Bishnoi will be undergoing more procedures in the next few months for artificial eye and scar revisions.