Surgery Godfather
Chapter 778 - 696: I’m Sorry, It’s My Fault!

Chapter 778: Chapter 696: I’m Sorry, It’s My Fault!

"Can I take out the skin graft now?"

Li Guodong asked as he stood by the sterile case that stored the skin grafts, ready to provide grafts of various sizes for the surgery.

"Okay! Bring it out, in a rectangle, 30 by 40 cm, and put it on a flat surface." Dr. Ivan specified the area of the skin graft required.

Xu Zhiliang helped him open the sterile case. Li Guodong, with sterile gloves on, measured with a sterile ruler and then cut a 30 by 40 cm skin graft with scissors and gave it to Song Zimo.

Song Zimo comfortably laid out the skin graft on a sterile table, cushioned by a smooth, flat slab underneath.

"I need a short break!"

Dr. Ivan was slightly tired, not from the surgery, but from seeing the two moles on his assistant’s forehead.

He didn’t want to look at the despicable moles on his assistant’s forehead, which were bothering him.

If this assistant were a member of his team, he would absolutely not tolerate this. He would insist that the assistant remove these loathsome moles, no compromises allowed.

Yang Ping grabbed the scalpel and started trimming the skin graft. The rounded knife trimmed the edges, while the scalpel cut out some necessary holes.

"Professor?"

Song Zimo didn’t know what Yang Ping was doing.

"Look, is it alright?" Yang Ping finished trimming and tossed the excess material into a curved dish.

Song Zimo really couldn’t tell whether it’s alright or not; after all, he had never seen Yang Ping perform a plastic surgery before.

"Move aside, I’ll trim the graft." Dr. Ivan rested for a few minutes and opened his eyes.

Song Zimo handed the graft, along with the slab underneath, to Dr. Ivan, who saw that it had already been trimmed and was no longer an original rectangular piece.

"Who told you to trim the graft?" Dr. Ivan was slightly irritated but promptly realized he was being too harsh. He slowly said, "Get another 30 by 40 cm rectangle piece of skin graft. You guys are so extravagant, wasting such a nice piece of graft."

The skill required for this graft trimming was very high, extremely high.

Perhaps only Dr. Ivan could accomplish it. He had to adjust an entire piece of graft to perfectly fit over the now skinless face, whether it was the craft’s facial, forehead, eyelids, upper and lower lips, or nasal septum. Every part had to fit together seamlessly without any overlaps or gaps. Any misalignment would lead to a severe problem.

"Let’s give it a try! I think it should work." Yang Ping didn’t want to waste materials.

Dr. Ivan held the graft in his hand and looked at it, then at Teacher Sun’s skinless face. After a full three minutes, he made a judgment. This was not a casual job, this graft was really suitable.

Although it seemed visually perfect, common sense told Ivan this wasn’t possible. No matter how much time was given, it wouldn’t be possible to trim such an accurate piece of skin graft.

For the first time, Ivan doubted his own judgment. He questioned the accuracy of his judgment as there was no way this piece of graft could possibly fit.

The graft, which perfectly molded to the entire face, was complex. Apart from Ivan, no one else could have managed it. This was because ensuring the surrounding contour of the graft was seamless, while making sure all the various shaped holes fit perfectly, was incredibly difficult.

Nonetheless, Ivan decided to give it a try. Whether it worked or not, it was worth a shot.

Ivan carefully lifted the skin graft from the plate and then attached it to the exposed face. Its fit was just right, without any excess or shortage, even the thickness of the graft was perfectly suitable.

How is this possible?

Ivan didn’t believe it was true, as he’d always believed that only he had such exceptional abilities.

"Dr. Ivan, is it a good fit? I fear we might lose time, I just thought I’d help a little in trimming it up. If it’s not okay, you can just create a new graft. We have enough skin, so we don’t have to worry about wasting." Yang Ping thought Ivan was dissatisfied.

"It fits very well, let’s use this one."

Ivan nodded and said with a bitter smile that even if he’d done the trimming himself, the result wouldn’t be any better. Was it sheer luck or did Yang Ping truly possess skills on par with his? Ivan didn’t dare to think about it. But the reality was right in front of him, the casually trimmed graft was perfect, the tension of the skin was just right, and there was not a bit of excess. Even the perpetually critical Ivan found the facial graft satisfying and the discomfort induced by the two moles on the assistant’s forehead vanished entirely.

Well, the surgery must continue. Ivan stopped overthinking and carried on with the surgery.

Next, Ivan was to suture the facial skin. He would personally complete each stitch, achieving perfection in every one.

Suturing in plastic surgery is indeed a skilled task. Plastic surgeons often use cosmetic suturing to minimize scarring. Ivan meticulously performed each stitch, applying different cosmetic suturing techniques to different areas. Many of the suturing techniques were either his innovations or his own adaptations.

Director Lan was totally dazzled watching from the side. The majority of suturing techniques were completely new to him. As the chief physician of the plastic surgery department, Director Lan felt utterly ignorant at this moment.

Once the suturing was finished, it was time for the final step: dressing the wound.

Dressing is another technical task. Sterile elastic bandages and regular bandages were used together, wrapped and redirected in various ways to pressurize the areas that needed it. The pressure was evenly distributed perpendicular to the skin graft, thereby allowing the graft to adhere well to the base without causing slippage. Slippage could not only result in poor blood circulation in the skin graft but could also cause misalignment.

The skin graft for the skin grafting operation has no blood vessel connections to the base tissues. Its blood supply relies on the exudation from the base. Therefore, poor adhesion could result in the inability of the exudate to reach or seep into the skin graft, hence the need for post-operative pressure application.

However, for the skin graft on the eyelid, the method of applying pressure through dressing cannot be used, as it would cause pressure on the eyeball. Therefore, a special type of mound dressing is needed to apply pressure to the skin graft without exerting any pressure on the eyeball.

Director Lan sighed. The complexity of just this dressing technique was enough for him to study for a long time, let alone the many complicated suturing techniques he had just witnessed, or the ability to coordinate the entire surgical procedure.

For example, the skin graft implanted in the eyelid required a mound dressing for pressure application. Therefore, sutures needed to be left in place for bundling. In order to hide the tiny scars from the sutures, Ivan placed the lower suturing point in the area where double eyelid surgery would be performed in the future, and used a horizontal suture. The pressure anchor point for the upper part was set in the future eyebrow transplantation area. This way, there would be no traces of any scars left after all the surgeries were done.

A world master is indeed a world master!

Those who paid him millions to tens of millions of US dollars to perform surgery on them definitely got their money’s worth. Value for money.

The face of Teacher Sun would surely be restored to normal under Ivan’s skillful hands, making it difficult for anyone to tell that he had ever undergone plastic surgery.

After the facial dressing was finished, Ivan tied a nice finishing knot. Director Lan’s scissors clicked once, cutting off the excess end of the bandage.

"Symmetry!"

Ivan said sternly.

He took the scissors himself, trimmed the excess bandage end left just now, and made the two ends of the bandage appear absolutely symmetrical to the naked eye.

"The facial plastic surgery is only the first step. Most of the future surgeries will revolve around facial plastic surgery. In the second step, we need to fill some parts of the face with fat to make it look full and three-dimensional. In the third step, we need to shape the nasolabial fold, form double eyelids, and implant eyelashes. Only in the fourth step will we transplant the scalp and hair. In the fifth step, we need to adjust the facial muscles to make his expressions appear normal. I will be the chief surgeon for these surgeries, and when the last surgery is over, you will definitely be in awe of a doctor’s miraculous hands," Ivan said with a sense of achievement.

"Let’s take a break. Next, we’re going to replace all the scars on his body with normal skin. Compared to facial skin grafting, this step is very simple. It’s just skin grafting, while facial skin grafting is equivalent to giving him a new normal face," Ivan said slowly.

In keeping with his tone of speaking, Ivan never rushed his surgeries. He followed the principle that slow and steady produces fine work.

His movements were not fast, but they appeared very stable because there were no repeated or unnecessary movements throughout the surgery. Thus, even though his movements seemed slow, the surgery took a very short time.

"Damn, your left face is larger than the right?"

Ivan looked up at his assistant again, feeling distressed once more.

Although Director Lan was wearing a mask, Ivan was still able to judge the asymmetry between the left and right sides of his face from the visible part of his skin.

"I had torticollis as a child, which resulted in facial asymmetry. I’m sorry, so very sorry," Director Lan explained apologetically.

Ivan was also helpless: "I’m sorry, it’s my problem, not yours. I can’t tolerate imperfection, asymmetry or carelessness. I didn’t mean to. But you really make me uncomfortable."

"Is the skin graft still okay?" Yang Ping reminded him, helping to divert his attention.

Looking at the patient’s face, which had already been dressed, and remembering that perfect piece of skin graft, Ivan felt instantly healed.

"Perfect! It’s like a great medicine."

"I’m sorry, sir, could you please not stand opposite me, could you swap places with the second assistant? That way, I’ll feel a bit better."

Ivan glanced at the second assistant, Director Chi. At least he didn’t have a mole on his forehead, there was no noticeable asymmetry between the two sides of his face and ears, and he wasn’t hunchbacked.