Facebook photos help doctors reconstruct woman's destroyed face after horse-riding nightmare

BEFORE: Plastic surgeons had to reconstruct Dr. Elizabeth Calton's face after her horse trampled her. (© Elizabeth Calton / SWNS.com)

It turns out Facebook is good for something other than keeping up with old friends.

Photos on a young doctor's Facebook account helped surgeons reconstruct her badly smashed face after she was involved in a horrifying horse accident.

AFTER: Calton smiling after 9 surgeons spent 10 hours putting in 11 plates and 41 screws to reconstruct her face. (© Elizabeth Calton / SWNS.com)

Dr. Elizabeth Calton had her face "crushed backwards" after jumping off her horse, Barney, and getting kicked in the head.

"The impact basically crushed the middle of my face backwards,” the physician told news service SWNS.

The 38-year old suffered multiple facial fractures, including both cheek bones, her eye sockets, nose and upper jaw. (© Elizabeth Calton / SWNS.com)

While taking a ride on her horse, the 38-year old pediatric doctor had to suddenly jump off the horse when he was startled by a noise. The spooked horse trampled across his owner’s chest, breaking nine of her ribs and crushing her face.

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"I was incredibly lucky, both to have been discovered by passersby, but also to be brought to St George’s, which has so many specialists in one place," she said.

The London-based doctor suffered multiple facial fractures, including both cheekbones, her eye sockets, nose and upper jaw, which had broken in two under the weight of the horse’s hoof.

It took nine surgeons 10 hours, 41 screws and 11 plates to reconstruct her face after the accident last October. But it was Elizabeth’s pictures from Facebook that helped the team recapture her original bone structure.

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Plastic surgeon Dr. Nick Hyde, who led the operation, told SWNS "Multiple injuries to the face such as this are rare, and the surgery Elizabeth required was complex and labor-intensive."

"However, the end result is very pleasing, and a credit to the many different people involved in her care.

"It was a real team effort," he noted.