There's an artery that runs up the forehead, right?
We call it the Supratrochlear Artery… Seems quite a mouthful, doesn't it?
Maybe it's because I studied it in English. For some reason, medical terms seem harder in Korean.
Anyway, in English, it's called the Supratrochlear Artery.
Literally, it's the artery (Artery) that curves above (Supra) the trochlea (Trochlear). You can think of it as the artery that runs from the center of the eye upward across the forehead.
"Can you see this?"
In any case, I made incisions about 1 cm on either side of the artery and then peeled it back.
Of course, the lower part was still intact.
You have to preserve the artery, right?
If you cut it, the tissue will just die.
Conversely, as long as it's connected to the artery, the tissue can survive no matter how you reshape the upper part.
Because blood flow is maintained.
"Hmm... The artery... I've seen this a few times while dissecting faces. This is..."
Blundell muttered without much hesitation as he observed it.
However, our hopeful Liston was a bit different.
"Ah... If you rotate this...! It's not that different from rotating the flesh from the forearm and attaching it, is it?"
"Yes, that's correct."
This guy isn't lacking in knowledge or experience, nor is he too one-sided...
He's exceptionally sharp, isn't he?
Still, I didn't expect him to understand it so immediately.
"The downside... Well, since it's the forehead, the amount of usable tissue is limited."
"That's right. But the nose isn't that large of a structure, is it?"
"Your nose might not be, but mine is big."
"Well... It's not like we can reconstruct the shape exactly as it was, right?"
"Wouldn't it be good if we could reconstruct it exactly as it was? But... well, that method seems unusable anyway."
Moreover, when it came to medical matters, he wasn't stubborn.
Look at him now.
Even though it's common sense and perfectly natural to say it would be good to reconstruct it exactly as it was, he's already giving up while looking at the leather bag that Joseph ruined for Colin.
Probably because he was also thinking that surgery should never be performed unless proper disinfection is possible.
"Even just doing this, look."
Anyway, I rotated the flap I had roughly created and placed it over the cut nose.
"Gruesome."
Honestly, the response I was hoping for was something like 'plausible,' 'impressive,' or 'as expected of Pyong.'
But it was gruesome.
It's just that... Instead of cleanly detaching the flesh to create a nose, it was forming the nose while still attached to the forehead.
The nose itself looked strange, and the connected area was even stranger.
"Can we cut this part later?"
"Ah, like this method? Well, if forearm flesh can attach, why not forehead flesh? Hmm... That would be better than before."
It wasn't just better—it was revolutionary, I'd say.
Think about it.
Going from forcibly stitching people together with iron and leather to attaching forearm flesh to the nose and then untying it—of course this is better.
Even just considering the patient's comfort, this is superior. And if we actually try it, the survival rate of the tissue would likely be much higher.
I'm sure of it.
"Well, one way or another, it'll definitely be much better than what's written in the literature."
"That's what I'm saying."
"As expected of Professor Pyong..."
Both Liston and Blundell eventually agreed with me.
Colin chimed in as well.
Even Joseph and Alfred remained silent but were in agreement.
The reasons for their silence were different.
Alfred is clearly all thumbs, and while trying to imitate my surgery, he accidentally cut the artery.
That artery just runs upward—how do you even manage to cut it? It doesn't make sense.
Joseph?
Joseph is busy disinfecting.
'I should probably start reining him in a bit.'
This is an era where disinfection wasn't practiced at all, and apart from our group, most people still don't do it, so someone obsessively focused on it is somewhat necessary...
'But that guy has good hands.'
Alfred, on the other hand, can pretty much do anything.
It's more troublesome if he starts messing around with surgeries.
I'm human too, so I ought to repay the kindness I've received.
If he goes through the hardship, I could at least make him a decent surgeon...
There's that saying, isn't there?
Graves are filled with the bodies of soldiers who fought just well enough.
At least in swordsmanship, it's the swordsman who dies, but in surgery, it's the patient who dies.
Thinking of the pile of 'others' that would accumulate in his wake makes me sigh.
Given his family's wealth, it's not like his mistakes would even be classified as medical accidents, right?
"Hmm... But you know..."
While I was pondering Alfred and the future of London, Liston spoke up.
He's the most serious man in the world when it comes to surgery, so he had been carefully rotating the forehead muscle—the flap—this way and that.
It seemed worth listening to, especially compared to Alfred's future.
Of course, regardless of everything, ignoring Liston would be foolish.
Even though I subtly pretended to be insane and made a bald joke, I survived, so I doubt I'll get beaten to death now...
"Yes."
But my mouth automatically responded.
Even if my soul isn't, my body still seems honest.
Well, I have to survive.
I came back to life, so I can't afford to die over a slip of the tongue.
"What about the bridge of the nose? Your nose is small, but it's still upright, isn't it? If we do it this way, it'll be too soft."
"Don't you think you're too fixated on the shape?"
"It's not fixation. We have to think about the patient. Consider their future."
It seems a bit presumptuous for a 19th-century doctor to think about the patient's future...
Shouldn't we first worry about whether they'll survive even a few days after the surgery?
Of course, that thought was naturally dismissed.
'Well... It's a valid concern.'
Instead, I started considering a more practical dilemma.
It wasn't so much about what to do, but whether the solution I knew was feasible at this point.
"Should we use iron...?"
"No, wait a moment."
"Why?"
Iron.
It's a good metal.
There's no Mercury Age, Lead Age, or Arsenic Age, but there's an Iron Age, right?
It's that useful and reliable...
But that doesn't mean it's safe to put inside the body.
"Touch your nose for a moment."
"No."
"Why...?"
"I'd have to wash my hands again."
"But it's just a corpse?"
"Do you think Joseph would stay still?"
"Well... then just imagine it. The tip of your nose is soft, right?"
"Yes, it is. Huh?"
"Exactly. The tip of the nose is soft. Here, look. The bone isn't as hard as iron."
I fiddled with the nose I had cut off.
It had already started to harden due to the time since death, but it still wasn't as hard as bone.
It's something you'd know if you touched it.
Quite obvious, really.
"Hmm. But if the shape is right, wouldn't that suffice? The shape seems more important."
That wasn't entirely wrong.
For example, when reconstructing ears, we do use hard materials.
The downside is that protruding areas made of hard materials are more prone to injury, but it doesn't impair the function of hearing.
Well, wouldn't it be similar with the nose?
Since it protrudes, if it's hard, it'd probably get injured much more easily.
Like how the harder a tree is, the more likely it is to break in the wind.
"Ahem! Would the Lord have made it this way for no reason?"
But what came out of my mouth was a completely different kind of statement.
Normally, yelling like this in front of Liston would be unthinkable, but if I invoke the Lord, maybe it'll work.
"Ah, Lord."
Liston, with his appearance, always looks like he's destined for hell every time he looks in the mirror...
Or maybe it's because he's actually committed quite a few sins...
He's extremely devout.
"I was wrong. Let's leave out the iron."
"That's right. If we're going to insert something, I think it's better not to."
"Alright, I'll listen to your wise advice. Is the Lord speaking now? Is this a prophecy?"
"He's not speaking, but if He were, you'd believe it, right?"
It'd be very problematic if they thought it was some shamanistic possession.
I'm not worrying for nothing—these guys have started studying Joseon.
Luckily, there's very little material on it.
If there were more, I'd probably be the Monk Wolha of Jirisan instead of Nobel Kim.
"Of course. Who else but the Lord would give such correct knowledge?"
"That's right. Anyway, He has inspired me now."
"Oh? What is it?"
"We can take cartilage from another place. Like the ear or here."
"The ribs?"
"Yes, there's cartilage in the ribs, isn't there?"
"Ah… that's right. That's why it breaks when you hit it. Haha."
It's strange to hear this from someone who could probably break a spine with a single hit.
But he probably has a fair amount of knowledge about the cartilage in the ribs.
The more you've broken, the more knowledge you accumulate, right?
"But the ear... isn't it a bit round?"
While I was thinking that, Liston had already cut off the ear of the corpse he was handling and pulled out the cartilage inside in a very peculiar way.
'As expected... Liston.'
While his brutality was shocking, what surprised me more was the idea itself.
Ear cartilage is much easier and safer to harvest than rib cartilage.
But it's round.
The nasal cartilage is straight, isn't it?
"It might be better not to use it. Unless the shape of the nose is somewhat preserved."
"I see. So it's the ribs, then?"
"But is cramming it in really the solution? We should first see if it works even without it."
"Sometimes I can't tell if you're progressive or not. If you work hard, is there anything in the world that can't be done?"
Well, there's also the saying that effort is part of talent... in the 21st century, at least.
But...
The 19th century is definitely filled with optimism.
The workers are a different story, but for people like us with some social standing, it's assumed that only good things will happen.
Especially since this is England, the land where the sun never sets.
No wonder the atmosphere is so upbeat.
'Besides... If it's Liston, he might really go all the way through sheer effort.'
His talent is frustratingly superior to mine.
That's why I don't stop him much.
It's not because I'm afraid of getting hit.
"So, should we practice on the corpse first and then call the patients?"
"Yes, let's do that."
"But won't they have to wait too long? Is that okay?"
"Huh? They're being paid to wait. And do you know how expensive a surgery consent form is? It's not small change. They'll be smiling when they actually get the surgery."
The term 'surgery consent form' keeps sounding like a body abandonment agreement...
But at least, they're nodding, thinking things will be better if they're in our hospital, with our group.