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Dr. Jacono Performs Pioneering Revision Rhinoplasty and Facial Reconstructive Surgery for Victim of Domestic Violence
Featured on the front page of Newsday on December 16, 2005
Also featured in the Daily News, Fox 5 News, Channel 55, Channel 12 News, 1010 Wins and
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Melissa had been beaten for so long that her face literally collapsed.
Her nose, after 17 years of punches by her abuser, had flattened flush against her face, making it difficult to breathe. The repeated blows caused her tendons to loosen from her lower eyelids, which then drooped -- a condition more common to people in their 70s than to a woman who is 42.
Now, through the help of a Great Neck plastic surgeon, the face that stares back from Melissa's mirror shows few signs of her ugly past.
In the six-hour operation at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park in October, Dr. Andrew Jacono harvested a rectangular piece of bone from her skull, reshaped it, and used it to rebuild the bridge of Melissa's nose. He used cartilage from her right ear to shape the nose's tip. Finally, he made incisions under her eyes to lift the sagging lids. The surgery could have cost up to $40,000, Jacono said. But for Melissa, it was free.
Melissa, a mother of two, agreed to be photographed but asked that her last name not be used for fear of retribution by her former partner. A Nassau County resident, she said getting surgery was never something she considered because of its high cost. "There was always something more important that my kids needed," she said at a news conference yesterday at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, where she unveiled her new face. Now, she said, "I can look in the mirror without that constant reminder."
Melissa said she suffered for years at the hands of her partner, who often aimed his blows at her face. "When I'm done with you, no one else will ever want you," she remembers him threatening.
Sandy Oliva, executive director of the Nassau County Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said such threats are common. "It takes tremendous courage for victims to reach out," she said.
After two particularly brutal beatings in August, Melissa called the group's hotline and asked for help. She got an order of protection and the coalition helped her pay for a new apartment. She's looking for a job and thinking about going to school. Today, in fact, she is taking an exam to get her high school equivalency diploma.
Jacono has been donating his services to domestic violence victims for about seven years, ever since he performed facial surgery on a woman who initially told him she had been in an auto accident. He discovered she was a victim of domestic abuse when the patient returned a few months later. "My work had been completely destroyed," he said.
Since then, Jacono has been involved with Face to Face, an Alexandria, Va.-based nonprofit that provides free surgery to domestic violence survivors. He also serves on the board of directors for the Nassau County coalition.
Although there is pride in Melissa's new face -- including the nose that turns up just so -- Jacono knows the real accomplishment is hers alone.
"She's made huge strides in her life," he said. "This is just the icing on the cake."
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