An all-you-need-to-know guide on microsurgery

By Mr Ruben Kannan
Plastic surgery

Mr Ruben Kannan is an award-winning consultant plastic surgeon, with additional qualifications in head & neck surgery and legal medicine. He is based in East Grinstead (Sussex) and Seven Oaks (Kent) and is recognised as one of the global leaders in the field of facial palsy. After graduating from the prestigious Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore with a scholarship, he undertook his basic surgical training at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and went on to complete on a PhD in Nanotechnology at University College London, where his work contributed to research that led to the world's first synthetic organ transplant. Following his training as a plastic surgeon in the UK, he then completed his advanced training in facial palsy, supermicrosurgery and migraine surgery at the St Andrew’s Centre (UK), Japan and the US respectively. Mr Kannan consults and practices at 7 different clinics and offers different treatments at each specific clinic namely.

Mr Kannan now specialises in facial reanimation, supermicro surgery and Bell's palsy surgery alongside the management of skin cancer and aesthetic surgery. His niche includes surgery for synkinesis (selective neurolysis), pain/secondary migraine management in Bell’s palsy as well as the use of the snail flap to rebuild the scalp without skin graft, thereby preserving hair-bearing scalp during skin cancer surgery. This technique won the best world-wide video article of the premier PRS Global Open journal in 2021, awarded by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and has revolutionised scalp reconstruction.
 
Mr Kannan practices privately at the McIndoe Centre in East Grinstead, as well as the Amherst Medical and Borough Green Medical Practices, under the auspices of Kent Integrated Dermatology Services (KIDS). His NHS base is the world-famous Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (QVH] in East Grinstead, where he is part of the largest facial palsy unit in the UK.

Mr Kannan treats the most difficult and complex Bell's palsy cases in the country and is a strong proponent that early treatment in Bell’s palsy leads to better outcomes. In 2018, he jointly performed the world's first free functioning muscle transfer for chewing function at QVH. His clinical work has also been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals and he is regularly invited to share his work both on the national and international stages. Mr Kannan also has numerous awards and prizes to his name such as the joint winner of the International Microsurgery Club’s best-case competition as well as being a twice finalist at the World Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery Best Case competitions in 2019 and 2021.  While he has built an impressive career so far, he continues to push the boundaries for the betterment of his patients. He is also an accredited member of the Sir Charles Bell Society (Facial Palsy), World Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery (WSRM), American Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery (ASRM) and the British Lymphology Society (BLS).

Mr Kannan's leadership qualities are also reflected in his roles in various public organisations. He is a medical advisory board member for Facial Palsy UK, founder and member of the UK Cranial Nerve Network and expert on the International Microsurgery Club's panel, while also a council member of the plastic surgery section of the Royal Society of Medicine. In addition, he runs the McLaughlin Prize and Fellowship programmes at QVH, East Grinstead with trainees coming from the world over as well as the prestigious TIG fellowship in head & neck surgery for UK trainees. As per his expertise, Mr Kannan functions as a professional expert witness for medico-legal cases relating to facial nerve injuries after accidents and surgery.

Mr Kannan is able to perform symmetrising facelifts with the use of High-SMAS deep-plane plication facelifts with the FAME modification, tailor-tack sutures, as well as structural fat grafting, which are powerful tools in rebalancing the face following facial palsy. Mr Kannan has done hundreds of facial palsy surgeries and is one of the leading experts in the world on this subject. Please find an example of this approach in the photo gallery, wherein there was significant mid-facial ptosis, malar festoons and jaws pre-op. These are aptly corrected using these surgical strategies.

Consultations are available at the McIndoe Centre in East Grinstead, please email [email protected].

Overall assessment of their patients