An incredible procedure was carried out to replace the ear by army medics in Texas
Shamika Burrage has a new ear made from cartilage from her ribs and grown under the skin on her forearm
A soldier whose ear was torn off in a horror car crash has been given a new one – made of cartilage from her ribs and grown under the skin on her arm.
The trooper, Private Shamika Burrage, lost her left ear when her tyre burst as she drove back from visiting her family.
But US Army medics were able to reconstruct it by performing a cutting edge operation.
The ear, made from cartilage harvested from Burrage’s ribs, was put under the skin on her forearm to grow.
In a statement on the US Army website, Lt Col Owen Johnson III, who is in charge of plastic and reconstructive surgery, said: “The whole goal is by the time she’s done with all this, it looks good, it’s sensate, and in five years if somebody doesn’t know her they won’t notice.
The procedure was carried out at the William Beaumont Army Medical Center
“As a young active-duty Soldier, they deserve the best reconstruction they can get.”
The groundbreaking procedure was carried out at the William Beaumont Army Medical Center in Texas.
The accident happened in 2016 while Burrage drove with her pregnant cousin in the car.
She said: “We were driving and my front tire blew, which sent the car off road and I hit the brake. I remember looking at my cousin who was in the passenger seat, I looked back at the road as I hit the brakes.
“I just remember the first flip and that was it.”
Medics said the soldier would have bled to death within 30 minutes if doctors hadn’t saved her life.
She also suffered head injuries, compression fractures and the total loss of her ear.
Johnson said: “She was 19 and healthy and had her whole life ahead of her.
“Why should she have to deal with having an artificial ear for the rest of her life?”
The soldier will have feeling in her ear, which will have arteries, veins and a nerve.
She now has just two operations to go, and said: “It’s been a long process for everything, but I’m back.”