Man in US is first to get full-face transplant
March 22nd, 2011 - 12:35 pm ICT by ANILondon, Mar 22 (ANI): A man in America has become the first to get a full-face transplant after a team of Boston doctors worked for 15 hours to reconstruct his face.
Dallas Wiens, 25, of Fort Worth, Texas, had lost most of his face in a disastrous high-voltage incident in November 2008 when his head touched a live power cable.
He was on a lift platform repairing a church window when he lost control of the platform and came into contact with a wire that seared off his face.
Wiens spent the next three months in a medically induced coma, while doctors performed more than 20 surgeries on him.
They expected him to be paralysed from the neck down and never walk, talk or eat regular food again, but he regained his fitness and now does 15 push-ups daily.
The 30-man team of doctors replaced Wiens’ entire face, including his nose, lips, skin, animation muscles and nerves to power them and give sensations.
The transplant breakthrough came after a plastic surgery team led by Dr Bohdan Pomahac at Brigham and Women’s Hospital used an anonymous donor on Wiens.
“I see every day as a challenge, an opportunity for hope and joy. I’m happier now than I think,” the Daily Mail quoted Wiens as telling the Dallas Morning News before surgery.
“I’m a little nervous as you can expect with any major procedure like this. I’m extremely excited over the possibility of just having a normal life back. There’s no words to describe what that would be like,” he stated.
Wiens, who will take months to recover, is said to be doing well, talking and being gradually taken off his medication. (ANI)
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Tags: anonymous donor, bohdan, brigham and women, daily mail, dallas morning news, full face transplant, high voltage, lips, man team, medication, muscles, nerves, plastic surgery, power cable, push ups, s hospital, sensations, surgeries, three months, ups