Ukrainian Andriy is blind, hearing impaired and his hands and face partially blown off.
But he receives professional help from an unexpected source – a beauty clinic in Kiev has now opened its doors to wounded soldiers.
– Our job is to help the soldiers to a better life as much as possible, says doctor Andriy Starodubtsev to TV4, who is present during the often painful treatment.
It is stigmatizing to have a deformed face and it is important to – if possible – be able to get back your normal appearance in order to speed up rehabilitation and adaptation to everyday life.
At the beauty salon in central Kiev, the clientele usually consists of well-to-do women and men who want to rejuvenate their appearance and look good for small defects. But today and every other day in the past year, intensive treatments are also taking place for war-wounded soldiers from the front lines in Donbass and Kherson.
“It hurts a little – don’t know what I look like”
50-year-old Andriy Spravtsev was participating in the defense of Bakhmut in June when a Russian attack drone suddenly exploded in the trench he was in. Half the face was torn off, and eyes, ears and hands were damaged.
Spravtsev was badly injured when he was evacuated from the battle line, but his life could be saved. Now “only” it remains to try to operate and treat the fractures around the eyes, and with a laser try to remove the worst scarring.
It is a rather painful treatment and before it begins, the doctor lubricates Andriy’s skin with pain-relieving cream. While waiting for it to work, Spravtsev is given a cup of tea.
Afterwards, the skin burns a lot, he admits.
– It hurts a little, but everything feels good. The worst part is that I have no idea what I look like. I don’t see anything anymore.
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The initiator of the aid operation for wounded soldiers is Maksym Turkevych. He is happy that about thirty beauty clinics in Ukraine are now participating in the project, which he hopes will spread even more because the need is enormous after three years of full-scale Russian invasion.
Turkevych also emphasizes that the enormous flow of patients enables medical breakthroughs. Never before has a country in Europe in the last 80 years had this amount of burn and explosion injuries, this means that treatment methods are improving step by step
– It may sound cynical, but our experiences contribute to increased knowledge. It will be able to be used internationally to refine and streamline treatment methods for patients with similar injuries, says Maksym Turkevych.
– But the most important thing is that we as a nation show that we fight together against an aggressive enemy, and that together we help to rescue those who risk their lives at the front in the fight for democracy and freedom.
“Hope you never experience war”
Andriy, who with the help of his sister puts on a jacket and cap after the treatment, does not choose high-flown words when he talks about the future. When he understands that we are from Sweden, he first falls silent and then slowly says:
– I wish that the war does not come to you. That you are never forced to experience war. Never.