Doctors used woman’s forehead skin for new nose after dog attack

A woman whose nose was bitten off by a dog is finally starting to feel like herself again after doctors used her forehead to help reconstruct it.

In April 2022, Jordan Wilson was attacked by a family friend’s Boerboel, when it ‘lunged’ for her nose and wouldn’t let go.

The damage was extreme, with the dog biting off her entire nose and swallowing it – leaving Jordan in tremendous pain and with devastating injuries.

Since then, the 29-year-old has undergone 16 surgeries to rebuild her face, including nasal reconstruction and using parts of her forehead for her new nose.

Her brother-in-law, who owns the dog, now pays for her health insurance and out-of-pocket expenses related to the numerous surgeries she has faced since that fateful day.

‘Up until this year, I had a really hard time going out in public, thinking people were wondering why I look the way I look,’ Jordan, a stay-at-home mum from Pennsylvania, said.

‘I don’t think I’m ever going to feel completely like myself, but I have been getting compliments from friends and family lately that I am starting to look like myself again.’

Jordan says that, due to the dog’s large size, she wonders if it had been intended playfully rather than aggressively.

She explained: ‘The reason I say it wasn’t super aggressive is because this dog could have killed me.

‘If it had kept biting me, I’d be dead. All it did was latch onto my nose, and because the breed is so large and strong, it was able to do the amount of damage that it did.

‘It completely ripped off my entire nose and, from what I was told, he likely swallowed it. My right cheek was also badly injured, and there was a lot of blood.’

Doctors placed tissue expanders in her forehead, leading to a bulbous look for a while, before they could take a skin graft to reconstruct her nose.

When the nerve cells were still attached, Jordan could feel a sensation in her forehead whenever she would touch her new nose – though this has since been disconnected.

Jordan has also had multiple surgeries to thin and debulk her new nose to better shape it.

But despite undergoing 16 surgeries to date, Jordan looks remarkably well, and has been documenting the recovery process on TikTok, where she has more than 135,000 followers.

And her new nose is performing well, too – with Jordan even reporting to her followers that she gets snot as normal, though she can’t pick her nose because of the thick cartilage and thin nostrils she has been left with.

‘My whole head has this strange sensation, kind of like when your foot falls asleep: that mix of numbness and pain,’ Jordan explained.

‘It’s such a weird feeling. At this point, I have about three more surgeries ahead – mostly to continue refining and shaping my nose – until I’m truly happy with the result.’

And despite all she has been through, she remains an animal lover – though she is always on her guard, and particularly when her children are nearby.

She added: ‘When my kids are around dogs, I find myself even more protective and anxious than I am for myself.

‘Through all of this – while it’s been incredibly hard and I still have days where I ask ‘why did this happen?’ – I do my best to find meaning and turn it into something positive.

‘I share my story and surgical journey online to bring both awareness and comfort to others going through similar experiences. Facial trauma can be extremely difficult to cope with, but seeing others who understand can make you feel less alone.’

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