On February 22nd of 2012 my wife had an indirect bypass surgery due to moyamoya. We were told by the doctor that it required the removal of the carotid artery and 1 blood vessel which would then be placed directly on the brain which in time would continue to grow more blood vessels and give her better blood flow in her brain. Her doctor removed 3 blood vessels and the carotid artery and placed them on her brain...a few days after her surgery we noticed that the side of her head looked pink, and a few days later it started getting darker and darker, meanwhile we are taking photo after photo and sending these pictures to her doctor who is telling us that it's normal..well another few days go by and now the side of her head is black so of course we send pictures to the doctor who then says please come in so we can check it. So the next day we go in and he brings in a plastic surgeon to look at the side of my wife's head and the plastic surgeon confirms that the left side of her scalp is dead. My question is...is this normal because the doctor never even implied that this could happen. Our best guess is that the removal of the 3 blood vessels instead of the one is what caused that area of her scalp to die. Has anyone ever heard of this happening? Meanwhile my wife had to get a skin graff on the left side of her head.

wow, this sounds awful.  I personally have never heard of this.   My first thoughts are similar to what you posted.  If this is what happened to her skin, I would be getting a 2nd and 3rd opinion from some other experienced MM surgeons.  I would not feel comfortable waiting to see when the new blood flow would begin to relieve the MM.  There are so many variables to all of this including your wife's body's reaction....I would be all over the staff there to make sure the surgery was done properly and that there is more than one doctor on her case.  good luck and our prayers are with you and your wife.  Keep us posted.

I"m sorry to hear about this happening. That is so scary. Who were the doctors? I live in Florida and am in my first stages of finding out and figuring out how to go about everything. I'm leaving everything in God's hands. But, please keep us posted. I hope all is well.
Arianne

Sorry to hear about the complications. I had the indirect bypass also and never heard of the procedure you decribed. My surgery invloved the STA (Superficial Temporal Artery) and as far I know thats the only one. This artery is taken from the temporal region of the scalp, passed through the skull and stitched to the surface of the brain. I was told there is a risk of infection at the incision due to the diminished blood supply in the scalp but never that the tissue would die. Again sorry to hear of the problems. Wishing you and yours well.

Thank yall for your concern we really appreciate it. The surgeon is from Plano Texas. We were completely new to this moyamoya and didn't know much about it. We relied on the information given to us by the neurosurgeon and went with what they said needed to be done. We thought that they certainly are the professionals. After the surgeon was told by the plastic surgeon that my wife's scalp had died and she would need a skin graff the surgeon broke down in the office saying he was sorry and that this had never happened to him. Of course that put my wife in tears. He then said that he would clean our bill and we wouldn't have to pay anything but that he would just collect from our insurance company. Soon after we then were having to see the plastic surgeons which were our responsibility to pay for since he was trying to fix my wife. Gosh it has been really tough on us with the co-pays and Dr visits and medication prescriptions. The original surgeon who performed my wife's surgery which caused the scalp to die said he could not help us with any of the plastic surgeons bills and that it was our responsibility. My wife and I both just kinda broke down not really understanding why he wouldn't try to help us in any way. Several weeks before the skin graff my wife was on the phone with the original surgeon who then told my wife that when he removed her scalp flap he noticed alot of blood vessels so he took 3 to give her better blood flow and he told her that he compinsated hair loss for better blood flow..the thing is he never told us that before he performed the surgery.

well, why would he be collecting from your insurance company?  They may be interested in this.  Sounds like it's a ripe situation for a lawsuit or two.  You shouldn't have to pay for the plastic surgery!  You put your trust in the doctors because they are supposed to be trained and professional.  If he never performed this surgery before, I'd be in contact with some neurosurgeons who have.  She may need additional surgery, especially because he said he didn't do this before.  It's most important to take care of your wife and her situation....all the financial details and such will work out later.  Good luck!