Winchester Hospital Facial Plastic Surgeon William Numa, MD, FACS Provides Emergency Department Consultation Services

Winchester, Mass. — To this day, Heather Sidell of Billerica is thankful that a plastic surgeon was able to repair the now undetectable split lip she sustained in an accident when she was 4 years old. As fate would have it, her own 4-year-old son would require the expertise of a facial plastic surgeon when he was repeatedly bitten in the face by a neighborhood dog this past September.
 
Upon arriving at Winchester Hospital’s Emergency Department, Sidell learned the extent of her son’s injuries: lacerations around his eye and on both sides of his nose, and a puncture wound through his nostril – all of which required advanced reconstructive suturing skills. William Numa, MD, FACS, a board certified surgeon with advanced fellowship training in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery, cared for the child.
 
Dr. Numa advised Sidell that animal bites can often cause infections. So when she saw the described symptoms in her son, she knew that he needed to return for treatment. He was admitted to Winchester Hospital for a course of antibiotics during which Dr. Numa checked on his progress every morning and evening.
 
Sidell said she had been so impressed with Dr. Numa and the nursing staff in all of the departments in which her son was treated that she didn’t panic when, on a Sunday night just one month later, her 3-year-old daughter tripped and fell head-first into a door jamb while running during a game of hide-and-seek. She called Dr. Numa, who met them at Winchester Hospital’s Emergency Department where he reconstructed a 1.5-inch, complex laceration on the little girl’s forehead.
 
“Both of my kids are doing really well. When my son tells people he was bitten by a dog, they have to really look to see his scars, which will fade even more over time,” said Sidell, noting that at her daughter’s follow-up appointment, Dr. Numa also took the time to make sure that her son’s injury was healing properly. “Because of Dr. Numa’s expertise, we’ll all be able to look back on this experience as just one of those childhood stories.”
 
According to Winchester Hospital Physician Assistant Dan Winschel, one of three full-time physician assistants who currently work in the Emergency Department’s Fast Track, the services of a plastic surgeon are not typically available in most community hospital emergency departments.
 
“Dr. Numa offers a higher level of expertise in this area, which in turn allows us in the Emergency Department to continue to care for other sick and injured patients,” Winschel said.
 
“A traumatic injury or a laceration to an adult or a child’s face can be among the most emotionally-charged experiences encountered in an emergency department,” Dr. Numa said. “It’s rewarding for me to help restore an individual’s or a child’s facial appearance. It goes back to the reasons I was drawn to medicine in the first place.”
 
About Winchester Hospital
Winchester Hospital is the first community hospital in Massachusetts to earn Magnet recognition, the American Nurses Association’s highest honor for nursing excellence. As the northwest suburban Boston area’s leading provider of comprehensive health care services, the 229-bed facility provides care in general, bariatric and vascular surgery, orthopedics, pediatrics, cardiology, pulmonary medicine, oncology, gastroenterology, rehabilitation, radiation oncology, pain management, obstetrics/gynecology and a Level IIB Special Care Nursery. Winchester Hospital has clinical affiliations with several nationally recognized hospitals in the region, including Children’s Hospital Boston, Tufts Medical Center and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. To learn more, visit www.winchesterhospital.org.

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