Jordan Wilson was visiting the home of family friends in Tampa, Florida, in 2022 when a Boerboel dog attacked her without warning. In seconds, the animal completely tore off her nose, leaving her with what doctors call a total nasal avulsion: there was no tissue left to reconstruct on site, so they had to create new tissue from scratch.
The case came into the hands of surgeons at UT Southwestern Medical Center, who chose a technique called a forehead flap, a procedure that uses skin from the forehead to shape a new nose. To give it structure and firmness, they took cartilage from her ribs and her own ear, combining several surgical disciplines in a single process.
Wilson underwent multiple reconstructive surgeries and decided to share every stage of her recovery on social media. Her story shows how far reconstructive medicine can go when there is nothing left to work from.
