Working as a board certified plastic surgeon has blessed me in many ways.\u00a0 I get to not only do what I love on a daily basis, but I also have the opportunity to work with some of the best patients around.\u00a0 One patient in particular, Austin, is one who has truly inspired me.\u00a0 His harrowing story is one that I had the pleasure of being a part of and I am excited to feature Austin in my first patient feature series.<\/p>\n
The events that occurred on May 25, 2013 set into motion a story of adversity and triumph.\u00a0 As a rising sophomore at Bremen High School, Austin led an on-the-go kind of life.\u00a0 Sharing his father\u2019s love of wrestling, Austin continued the family tradition and had his sights set on finishing the 2013 season with an individual state championship title.\u00a0 On that summer day in May, Austin was involved in a four-wheeler accident that could have easily derailed his dream, but Austin\u2019s determination would later prove otherwise.<\/p>\n
When Austin came to me during his initial consultation, he had one of the worst orbital blowouts I had ever seen.\u00a0 The left side of his face had been severely crushed: his maxillary jaw was fractured and there was essentially no eye socket left to support his eye.\u00a0 His mother Jennifer recalled, \u201cI honestly wasn’t expecting the extent of damage Dr. Moyer<\/a> described.\u00a0 I was petrified because it was my baby and it was his face.\u00a0 One of my good friends highly recommended Atlanta Plastic Surgery\u2019s providers to help Austin with this surgery because she had been impressed by the results her own son had.\u201d\u00a0 As a parent of two young boys myself, I genuinely connected with Jennifer\u2019s concern for Austin and I was determined to help them during his arduous journey to recovery.<\/p>\n Austin\u2019s surgery required precise execution and an experienced medical team to complete.\u00a0 My team and I surgically placed three synthetic plates, eight screws and a cheek implant in a single combination procedure to restore the infrastructure to the left side of his face.\u00a0 To reduce any visible scarring I was able to operate through the eye and the inside of the mouth.\u00a0 As I met with Austin for several follow-ups to monitor his progress, I was elated by how quickly Austin was healing.<\/b><\/p>\n What really inspired me the most about Austin was what he accomplished next.\u00a0 In addition to his facial procedure<\/a>, Austin had broken both of his wrists and had to undergo surgery to repair those injuries.\u00a0 It was uncertain if he would ever be able to wrestle again with the extent of the damage he sustained and the nature of the sport which could easily compromise his recovery.\u00a0 Despite not being cleared by his physician, Austin focused on staying active and exercised every day for three months while he watched his teammates practice from the sidelines.\u00a0 Just a mere two days after he was cleared, and after only one team practice, Austin was back on the mat and competed in his first dual competition late in the season.<\/p>\n Five weeks later he went on to secure his first GHSA Class AA state champion title for his weight class, all while wearing a protective face mask that undoubtedly made it difficult to see out of.\u00a0 Jennifer described his tenacity best, \u201cwrestling is his life, his motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n Having to overcome what some might consider a large set-back served as a driving force for Austin\u2019s success.\u00a0 The focus and perseverance he exhibited is certainly something to be admired and it has been such a humbling experience to follow his journey.\u00a0 Today the \u00a0family is back to their constantly on-the-go routine.\u00a0 Jennifer recently shared, \u201cWe are extremely happy with Austin\u2019s results.\u00a0 Everyone who knows about the accident is amazed at his recovery and the results of his procedure, especially since there are no scars.\u00a0 Austin is now driving and while the accident was horrible, I think it made him more self-conscious and aware of his surroundings.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the most rewarding parts of my job is hearing about the great things that happen in the patients\u2019 lives that I have the fortune of getting to know; all of their stories remarkable in their own right.\u00a0 If you are interested in sharing your story and being my next patient feature, please don\u2019t hesitate to\u00a0contact us<\/a>. \u00a0Be sure to also stay connected with me, Dr. Hunter Moyer, on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Google+<\/a>\u00a0for future patient features and updates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Working as a board certified plastic surgeon has blessed me in many ways.\u00a0 I get to not only do what I love on a daily basis, but I also have the opportunity to work with some of the best patients around.\u00a0 One patient in particular, Austin, is one who has truly inspired me.\u00a0 His harrowing … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[408,1],"tags":[406,390,407,235,236,294],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.huntermoyermd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2401"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.huntermoyermd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.huntermoyermd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.huntermoyermd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.huntermoyermd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2401"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.huntermoyermd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3381,"href":"https:\/\/www.huntermoyermd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2401\/revisions\/3381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.huntermoyermd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.huntermoyermd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.huntermoyermd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}