Sherrie Walters lost an ear after an aggressive basal cell carcinoma returned and spread to nearby tissues. To reconstruct it, surgeons at Johns Hopkins shaped cartilage taken from her ribs into an ear.
The structure, still without skin, remained beneath the skin of her forearm for four months, where it expanded and developed blood vessels. The team then moved it to her head, connected it to blood vessels, and began shaping it. The reconstruction required several operations.
She said she now warns others about skin cancer. “It’s a cliché, but use sunscreen, and if you’re unsure about something, get it checked, because that’s what I didn’t do”, she said. The structure she lost to the disease spent months beneath the skin of her arm before returning to her head.
