

ROYAL OAK, MI – To repair injuries caused by a raccoon attack in infancy, operations for 11-year-old Charlotte Ponce will continue well into her teens, her plastic surgeon said.

Dr. Kongkrit Chaiyasate, the Beaumont Hospital surgeon who is performing facial reconstruction for Charlotte, said he wants to do a major operation when she is about 16.

At that time, he will do laser treatments and more surgery to repair scars on Charlotte’s face. The big operation has to wait until Charlotte stops growing and attains an age and maturity level to handle the course of treatment and compliance involved.

“What we do now is probably going to be outgrown by the time she is mature,” he said. “So now we just let her enjoy it, and when she’s 16 – a big one. I’ll do more grafts, more repairs and major scar revision.”

Charlotte, who lives in Spring Lake, was recovering well Wednesday, April 16, the day after an eight-hour surgery to reconstruct her ear, said her mother, Sharon Ponce. Charlotte said she dreams of being a cosmetologist someday, and she is excited about getting a new ear because it means she can wear earrings.

On Tuesday, Chaiyasate removed three sections of rib cartilage and carved them into an ear shape. The new ear was implanted under the skin on Charlotte’s right wrist. In eight weeks, after the skin molds to the new ear, it will be transplanted in another operation.

Related: 'She's just always wanted to be normal,' Mom says after Charlotte's eight-hour surgery

Chaiyasate also did some “revision” of scars on Charlotte’s face, thinning her right upper right lip and smoothing a scar on her chin.

MAILING ADDRESS

Cards and letters for Charlotte Ponce may be sent to P.O. Box 397, Fruitport, MI, 49415.

He had planned to work on scars on Charlotte’s new nose, but decided that could wait until the next operation.

“Otherwise, it’s too much pain everywhere,” he said.

When Charlotte was 3 months old and living with her birth parents in Ravenna, a pet raccoon got in her crib and mauled the right side of her face. Sharon and Tim Ponce, her great aunt and uncle, adopted Charlotte and her brother, Marshall, after they were removed from the birth parents’ home.

Related: 'She's my hero' - Adoptive mom talks about raccoon attack, aftermath

When Charlotte was younger, she underwent plastic surgery by Dr. Douglas Vander Woude, of Grand Rapids. The Ponces said they were happy with the care she received.

When she was 10, her parents saw an article about a boy whose nose was reconstructed by Chaiyasate. They contacted him and, in 2012, he performed a series of operations at Beaumont to rebuild Charlotte’s nose, right ear, lip and cheek.

Charlotte has been eager to undergo the reconstruction, her parents said, and she has endured nine operations with little complaint. Chaiyasate said he has never seen her cry after surgery.

He predicted recovery from Tuesday’s operation would be painful, particularly in the rib area. But Charlotte, asked Wednesday to rate her pain on a scale of one to 10, said it was only a two, her mother said.

Charlotte’s biggest issue was that she was unable to feed herself, because of tenderness in her lip, a sling on her right arm and an intravenous line in her left hand. Her mother was feeding her, and that did not sit well with Charlotte.

“She doesn’t like not being able to do anything for herself,” she said.

Sue Thoms covers health care for MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. Email her at sthoms1@mlive.com or follow her on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.