Wheelchair-bound surgeon from US beacon of hope for thousands in India

And eagerly waiting in the conference room that has been converted into a makeshift out patient department are young boys and girls who need cosmetic intervention for their scars and burns.

Eighteen-year-old Supriya Yeole who hails from Manjari and is pursuing a diploma in agriculture has a birth mark that has scarred the right side of her face. “I had come last year as well when Dr Dicksheet had administered an injection which lightened the scar. I would require a couple of more injections and yes, I don’t mind waiting till the doctor finishes operating on other patients,” she says. Supriya is one of the 100-odd youngsters waiting their turn.

Bopodi-based Jyoti Bahirat’s face had been disfigured when a prankster threw acid on her face when she was only two months old. “I hope Dr Dicksheet can help,” she says.

Dermabrasion and dermaplaning help to “refinish” the skin’s top layers through a method of controlled surgical scraping. The treatments soften the sharp edges of surface irregularities, giving the skin a smoother appearance, says Dr Parag Sancheti orthopaedic surgeon who is assisting him along with Dr Sanjay Lulla — plastic surgeon from USA in the surgeries.

Dicksheet, who can barely talk, whispered that he has conducted 1.8 lakh surgeries in India at free medical camps since 1968. He had a successful plastic surgery practice in Fairbanks, Alaska, when a car accident in 1978 left the right side of his body paralysed.

Four years later, just when his recovery was complete, he was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx and his doctor gave him six months to live. He refused chemotherapy to avoid failure of his immune system and chose radiation. He lost his larynx and couldn’t speak for almost five years.