The life of a one-year-old girl in Kuwait who had a big growth in between her eyes and was the target of stares and unpleasant remarks as a result of the growth has been radically improved owing to a surgeon who practices in the patient’s father’s home country of the United States. Noor Nunez, whose father Joe is a contractor for the United States Army and resigned from the service in 2006 but stayed in Kuwait, began to develop what her family characterized as a “small skin irritation” only a few weeks after she was born. Joe Nunez is Noor’s father. Joe Nunez’s father retired from the military in 2006 but remained in Kuwait.
“Over time, it started to darken in color, and then it started to actually protrude,” Joe Nunez said in an interview with Fox News.
After consulting with a number of physicians, the Nunez family was able to determine that their daughter had a hemangioma; however, they were unable to determine what this meant in terms of a treatment plan. Hemangiomas are biological tumors that are benign and develop throughout the first year of a child’s life. However, the growth of hemangiomas may be prevented if early intervention is given. Once the hemangioma stops growing, it will not grow again under any circumstances.
However, Nunez reported that it was difficult to obtain a credible medical opinion in Kuwait. According to Nunez, one specialist allegedly prescribed a topical ointment and suggested that they monitor the growth for several years, at which point it “should go away.” The growth had reached a width of 2.5 centimeters at that point.
At that time, Nunez and his wife turned to the internet in order to start communicating with specialists in other countries. Eventually, they came across BirthMarkCare.com, a website that was established by Dr. Gregory Levitin, an otolaryngologist and vascular birthmark specialist at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai in New York. After sending an email outlining the issue with his daughter, he waited until the morning to hear back from Levitin.
Levitin asked for images of Noor’s hemangioma because he was certain that he was able to provide the answer that Noor’s family had been looking for so badly.
“He essentially said, ‘Whatever you have to do, please let’s work toward scheduling and getting your daughter into surgery here with me because at the current condition, there’s no other resolution but surgery,'” Nunez recalled in an interview with Fox News. “Whatever you have to do”
Levitin immediately began making preparations for his patient’s life-altering journey to New York, where Noor was slated to undergo consultation and surgery in the month of July.
“There is no textbook for how to treat a hemangioma, as no two are ever quite the same,” he stated. “[T]here are never two that are exactly the same.” “An individualized treatment plan is necessary for each and every patient.”
Levitin said that he was aware of the fact that he would not be able to remove one hundred percent of Noor’s hemangioma; nonetheless, he was certain that he would be able to reshape and resize the skin in such a way that she would no longer have a protuberance in between her eyes. The operation lasted for two hours and twenty minutes, and while he had to keep part of the red skin after the procedure, Levitin is certain that laser therapy would restore the skin to its normal hue.
According to Nunez, “In the past, when you looked at Noor, here in Kuwait everyone would just draw towards [the growth].” “At this point, when you see her, she appears to have a little red, but in reality, the surface of her skin is completely flat.”
In addition to this, Levitin said that there is no possibility of a return since the growth of the hemangioma has ceased.
“The surgery was a huge success,” he said, adding that Noor’s story is an important reminder for patients with vascular birthmarks to speak up and seek an early examination and proper diagnosis. He stated that Noor’s example is an important lesson for patients with vascular birthmarks.
Levitin claims that his website has been accessed by patients from over 50 nations; some of these patients visit him in New York, while others only email images to him in order to get medical advice. Nunez said that the family was compelled to share their tale and experience with Levitin in the hopes of assisting others in finding relief from their own struggles.