A woman in Cleveland, Ohio is the recipient of America’s first face transplant. A team of eight surgeons spent 22 hours in the operating room, replacing over 80 percent of the badly disfigured woman’s face.
She had everything except her upper eyelids, forehead, lower lip and chin replaced with those of another person who had recently died. Her face had been badly damaged, and she could not smell, speak or even breathe properly, without the help of a tracheostomy tube. Surgeons had exhausted all other forms of surgery for her, and turned to a full facial transplant.
The surgeons were ecstatic with their work and said that this was the culmination of 20 years of study in the field of composite tissue transplantation. The surgery is very risky, has a long recovery time, and is unavailable to most patients. It is generally only used for extremely disfigured patients. For more information, contact a plastic surgeon today!
