Cancer survivors join calls for federal government to fund facial prosthetics
ABCAlmost a year after undergoing life-saving surgery to remove a malignant tumour from her face, Tracey David is still adjusting to her new reality. "I had no choice they had to insert implants into my face and this prosthetic nose that I have, it's got magnetic indents in it," he said. "We take an impression of the lost anatomy, we'll be either mirror imaging body parts if it's an ear or sculpting a new nose or eye depending on what's missing," she said. "There are a number of Medicare rebates available for surgical facial reconstruction for patients, including for head and neck cancer surgery, when performed by a medical practitioner," a spokesperson said in a statement. They also said that the government was currently considering a report by the Community Affairs References Committee, which includes a recommendation "to identify the barriers faced by cancer patients requiring rehabilitation, prosthetics and implants as a result of their treatment, with a view to ensuring they have financial support for those services."
History of this topic
Building faces: Getting a new nose and the art of prosthetics
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