Operation Mend Co-Directors: Dr. Christopher Crisera and Dr. Kodi Azari
Operation Mend is managed and supported by a team representing a multitude of UCLA Health clinical and administrative areas, including physicians and practitioners from the following clinical areas:
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Dermatology
- Pulsed Dye Laser treatment for improvement of Erythema of Scars
- Fraxel Laser and other fractionated lasers and devices for treatment of scars
- Lasers for removal of hair from hair bearing skin flaps to non hair bearing areas and removal of irregular growing hairs in scars
Maxillofacial/Dentistry and Prosthetics
- Comprehensive evaluation
- Nasal stents for surgical reconstructions (keeps the orifice open)
- Facial Prosthetics including auricular prosthesis (lost due to I.E.D.'s)
- Intra oral prosthesis including mandibular resection appliances and maxillary obturators (post implant placement)
Medical Tattooing
- Scar blending: custom blend flesh colored pigments to match the patient's skin and gently implant the pigment into the facial scars so that these scars become less visible
- Hair follicle replication: tattoo tiny dots of pigment into the scars on scalp wounds so that the scar is less visible
- Permanent make up to enhance lost or compromised facial features: (ie. lip, eyebrow and/or eyelash area) Adding lip colored pigment into a scar on a lip helps to camouflage the scar and diminish its presence. This also is the case in the eyebrow or eye area of the face.
Mental Health Services specializing in PTSD
- Embedded family centered psychological health care
- Evaluation, consultation, prevention and evidence-based treatment services
- Real time psychological health screening
- TeleMental Health services
- Families OverComing Under Stress (FOCUS) Resiliency Training Program
- Psychiatric evaluation (when indicated)
Neurology and Mild TBI Diagnostics
- Evaluation and treatment of symptoms relating to concussion
- Multidisciplinary neurological consultation in conjunction with neuropsychological screening
- Clinical reaction time testing
- Clinical balance testing
- Eye tracking screening examinations
- Multimodal clinical MRI with advanced diagnostics (when indicated)
- Video continuous EEG (when indicated)
- Neuroendocrine lab testing (when indicated)
- Rehabilitation
Neuropsychology
- Neuropsychological assessment for patients with post-acute, mild to severe TBI, mood disorders, PTSD, substance abuse, chronic pain, trauma exposure and re-adjustment, and other conditions
- 20+ board certified neuropsychologists provide detailed recommendations for referral sources, the patient and the patient’s family/caregivers
- Translate findings of objective cognitive measures into tailored recommendations focused on compensation for deficits and accentuation of strengths
- Flexible battery approach is utilized that matches assessment measures to the identified referral question and patient characteristics
- Tests selected from a wide variety of neuropsychology measures based on psychometric properties, demonstrated validity, and appropriateness of available normative data
- Interdisciplinary care is demonstrated by our monthly TBI meetings, where information about various assessments is discussed and treatments are considered based on this data
Ophthalmology and Oculoplastics
- Comprehensive Evaluation
- Visual fields tests
- Neuromuscular examination
- Humphrey visual field testing
- Orbital reconstruction to preserve eye movements and vision
- Ocular surface reconstruction including artificial cornea, grafting, burn reconstruction
- Complex eyelid reconstruction including tear drainage reconstruction
Orthopaedics
Upper and Lower Extremity
- Joint reconstruction including knee, shoulder, elbow and ankle reconstruction (AC, PCL, multi-ligament knee, rotator cuff and instability)
- Comprehensive arthroscopic procedures including knee, shoulder, elbow, ankle and hip arthroscopy
- Joint contracture release
- Specialty care in the setting of soft tissue loss or contracture
- Fracture care including malunion and nonunion
- Physical medicine and rehabilitation
- Foot and ankle surgery
Spine Surgery
- Complex deformity surgery
- Cervical, thoracic and lumbar osteotomy for correction
- Cervical, thoracic and lumbar discectomies for nerve compression
- Fusion procedures for instability and degenerative conditions of the spine.
- Treatment of spinal infections
Vascular Composite Allotransplantation
- Hand Transplantation
- Face Transplantation
Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, ENT
Treatment of injuries and severe infections of the ears, nose, and throat
- Endoscopic sinus surgery
- Septoplasty
- Turbinate reduction
Treatment of traumatic injuries to the ear, temporal bone, larynx, skull base, facial nerve
- Ear exploration
- Tympanoplasty
- Mastoidectomy
- Cochlear implants
- Middle fossa surgery
- Facial nerve decompression
- Facial nerve rehabilitation (static/dynamic reanimation)
- Laryngeal reconstruction (thyroplasty, voice augmentation, larygenal transplantation)
Treatment of hearing and balance disorders, sinus/smell disorders, voice/speech/swallowing disorders
- Hearing tests
- Balance testing
- Balloon sinuplasty
- Video stroboscopy
- Transnasal esophagoscopy
- Swallow therapy
Reconstructive Plastic Surgery
Plastic Surgeons strive to re-establish form and function for defects arising from congenital anomalies, malignancies, or trauma. Doing so requires manipulation of skin, muscle and bones. Operation Mend patients have a broad spectrum of challenging defects affecting the face, torso, and extremities resulting from burn, blast, and ballistic injuries.
Specific procedures performed for Operation Mend patients include:
Local tissue rearrangements
- Scar revisions
- Contracture releases
- Z-plasties
Skin grafts
- full thickness skin grafts
- split-thickness skin grafts
Fat Transfer
Local flaps
- Fasciocutaneous flaps
- Muscle flaps
- Musculocutaneous flaps
Free tissue transfer
- Free osseous/osteocutaneous flaps
- Mandible/oral reconstruction
- Free muscle/myocutaneous flaps
- Facial reanimation for paralysis
- Free fasciocutaneous flaps
- Complex burn scar reconstruction (neck and extremity)
Craniofacial Procedures
- Facial fracture repair
- LeForte I, II, III, frontal sinus, nasal, zygomaxillary complex, mandible
- Orbital surgery
- Orthognathic surgery
Hand Surgery
- Care of the Amputated Digits & Limbs
- Reconstruction of nerve injuries
- Secondary burn care and reconstruction
- Nerve compression syndromes
- Fracture care including non-union or malunion
- Surgical care of ligament tears & joint dislocations
- Upper extremity soft tissue reconstruction
- Tendon Injuries
Seizure Disorder Care
- Comprehensive care for seizures and epilepsy
- Subspecialty outpatient and inpatient assessments with EEG, video-EEG monitoring, epilepsy protocol brain MRI, brain FDG-PET, and neuropsychological testing. The diagnostic testing leads to a multidisciplinary case conference with consideration of all treatment options, including neurosurgical treatment for medication resistant seizure
Urology and Uro-genital Reconstruction
- Penile Prosthetics
- Testicular prosthetics
- Microscopic reconstruction of the vasa deferentia
- Hypospadias repair
- Urethral reconstruction
