Man Missing Chunk of Skull Looks Great Thanks to Plate

Lee Charie's skull was rebuilt with titanium after a fall from a hotel balcony.

ByABC News
April 30, 2014, 11:02 AM
Lee Charie holding a metal plate before it was placed into his head in March 2014.
Lee Charie holding a metal plate before it was placed into his head in March 2014.
SWNS.com

April 30, 2014— -- A British man missing a chunk of his skull has a healthy-looking head again -- thanks to a custom-made titanium plate.

Lee Charie, 33, was on vacation in Thailand in December 2012 when he fell 22 feet from his hotel balcony, cracking his skull and causing a dangerous buildup of pressure on his brain.

PHOTO: Lee Charie recovers in Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, after falling from a hotel balcony which shattered the left side of his skull.
Lee Charie recovers in Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, after falling from a hotel balcony which shattered the left side of his skull.

To ease the pressure, Thai doctors cut out a piece of Charie’s skull, which he brought back to England in a box with hopes that British doctors could piece him back together.

They did, but not with bone.

They used the chunk of Charie’s skull to create a titanium stand-in, which in March 2014 was successfully implanted in the young man’s head.

PHOTO: Lee Charie had an operation to replace the missing part of his skull with a titanium plate.
Lee Charie had an operation to replace the missing part of his skull with a titanium plate.

Charie can walk and talk despite the incredible injury.

Click here for more medical marvels captured in images.