Reuters on June 3, 2009 reported that LeBron James underwent a 5 hour surgery to remove a benign cyst from his parotid gland. People may ask why it would take so long to remove a cyst. It's because the nerve that makes the face move goes through the parotid gland and if the nerve is not identified first prior to cyst removal, the patient may end up with a permanent facial paralysis.
Read the story here.
I would bet that it took 4 1/2 hours to identify and trace out all the facial nerve branches (can be as thin as a hair) and 30 minutes to remove the cyst and close the wound.
Read more about this type of surgery here.
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