IN PICS! Woman after operation was able to open her mouth after 30 years

In an unusual incident, a 30-year-old delhi woman Aastha Mongia, who was treated at Sir Ganga Ram hospital in Delhi, was able to open her mouth for the first time.

Aastha, who is currently working as senior manager at Punjab National Bank, was suffering from congenital disorder and was brought to the hospital in February.

The woman was suffering from this disorder for the past 30 years. Aastha’s jaw bone was connected to her skull bone from both sides of her mouth, because of which, she could never open her mouth and was alive only on fluids.

The patient’s family also revealed that with no opening passage in the mouth all of Aastha’s teeths decay gradually.

The condition of the patient was crucial and no hospital was ready to operate. The patient and her family had earlier consulted doctors in leading hospitals of India, Dubai and United Kingdoms, before Dr. Rajeev Ahuja, Senior Plastic Surgeon, Department of Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital agreed to take the case.

"When we saw the patient, we told the family that the surgery is very complex and excessive bleeding can also lead to death on the operation table.

We convened a team of plastic surgery, vascular surgery and radiology department and decided to carry out this complex surgery after a lot of deliberations,” said Dr. Rajeev Ahuja.

The team which treated Aastha included Dr. Raman Sharma, Dr. Itishree Gupta (Plastic Surgery), Dr. Ambaresh Sattvik (Vascular and Endovascular Surgery), Dr. Jayshree Sood, Dr. Amitabh (Anaesthesia Team), was led by Dr. Rajeev Ahuja himself.

The preparation for the surgery started three week before the operation, when a special injection was applied to the patient's face to shrink the blood-filled veins slightly.

The survey which took 3.5 hours was successful and Aastha’s mouth on the operation table was opened for about 2.5 centimeters. Five days after the surgery the patient was discharged from the hospital. At that time Aastha was able to open her mouth upto 3 centimeters. Dr. Rajeev Ahuja said, “the physiotherapy and exercise of the mouth will now open its mouth more.”