Face transplant surgery, unlike conventional reconstruction, seeks to transform severely deformed features to a near-normal appearance, is a life-giving procedure for these patients says director of the plastic surgery transplantation program at BWH.
In March, surgeons at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston performed the first full face transplant in the U.S. on Dallas Wiens, a 26-year-old Texas man who accidentally struck a power line when painting a church. Less than a month later, BWH surgeons performed a full face transplant on 30-year-old Mitch Hunter of Indiana, who was disfigured after an auto accident (pictured). Then Charla Nash, who made headlines when her neighbor’s chimpanzee mauled her in 2009, underwent the procedure at the hospital in May. All three are well on their way to recovery.
“Unlike conventional reconstruction, facial transplantation seeks to transform severely deformed features to a near-normal appearance and function that conventional reconstructive plastic surgical techniques cannot match,” study author and lead surgeon Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, director of the plastic surgery transplantation program at BWH, said in a written statement. “It truly is a life-giving procedure for these patients.”
In an effort to advance the face transplant field by sharing their findings, the surgeries are described in the Dec. 29 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
How did these amazing surgeries unfold? First, Pomahac and his team had to rigorously screen the prospective candidates with physicals and psychological exams to make sure they were mentally and physically… continue reading
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