First US Face Transplant a Success!
Expert plastic surgeons and micro-surgeons from all over the United States announced on Wednesday that they had successfully transplanted a woman's face in a ground-breaking 22 hour surgery.
The woman was so disfigured that 80% of her face had to be replaced, according to surgeons, which is by far the highest percentage of facial tissue including skin, bone and cartilage that has ever been attempted before. According to U.S. News and World Report,
The patient, identified only as a female and a U.S. citizen, had suffered a major facial trauma in the middle of her face so that multiple parts of her face were missing, including skin, bone, nose, eyelids, upper lid, right eye. She could not smell and had trouble speaking and could not eat or breathe without a tracheostomy.
"She was really suffering whenever she appeared in a social situation, was called names, children were afraid of her, were running away. The patient was brave, and she was very stable and facing the world. However, it became very difficult for her just to go outside of her house," Siemionow said.
Doctors would not disclose what kind of trauma was responsible for the disfigurement, only that the patient had exhausted all existing, conventional procedures, a condition for eligibility for the rare procedure.
Indeed, this is a breakthrough for the field of plastic and cosmetic surgery, and there is no doubt that the efforts of many cosmetic surgeons throughout the United States contributed to the success of the Cleveland Clinic's surgical team.
To read the U.S. News and World Report in its entirety, please click here.
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Labels: cleveland clinic, cosmetic surgery, face transplant, US News and World Report
