Polish doctors say they have performed a total face transplant on a 33-year-old man whose face was torn off in an accident with stone-cutting machinery.
Surgeons at the Oncology Center in Gliwice said the 27-hour operation was performed on May 15, just weeks after the accident.
The head of the team of doctors, Adam Maciejewski, said it was the world’s first life-saving face transplant carried out so soon after the damage.
The accident took place on April 23.
Previous transplants have taken months or years to prepare.
A computer-generated image, provided by the hospital, shows the extraordinary damage the man suffered as a result of the industrial accident.
It required surgery to reconstruct his face, jaws, palate and the bottom of his eye sockets.
But incredibly, the emergency procedure appears to have been a success.
Polish doctors say they have performed a total face transplant on a 33-year-old man whose face was torn off in an accident with stone-cutting machinery
A picture of the patient taken yesterday, six days after the surgery, showed him making a thumbs-up gesture from his hospital bed.
A Spanish farmer had the world’s first full-face transplant in March 2010.
Oscar, whose surname was not revealed to protect his privacy, had blown most of his face off with a gun in the hunting accident. He was left unable to breathe, swallow or talk properly.
Nine earlier surgical attempts to rebuild his face had failed.
He made medical history when he became the first person in the world to undergo a full facial transplant.
The 24-hour operation involved 30 surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and other medical experts at the Vall d’Hebron hospital in Barcelona.
The complicated procedure included plastic surgery and microsurgery to repair blood vessels.
Oscar required speech therapy, physiotherapy and facial therapy to help him recover full movement in his facial muscles.
There have been 11 partial face transplants carried out since Isabelle Dinoire had her face repaired by French surgeons in 2005. Five have been performed in France, two in Spain and two in the U.S, one in Egypt and one in China.
There have also been two full face transplants, Oscar and a man known as Jerome in France.
Dallas Wiens, of Fort Worth, Texas, who became the first person in the US to receive a full face transplant, got married on Saturday to fellow burn patient Jamie Nash that he met at a support group.
Dallas Wiens was severely injured in a bizarre construction accident in 2008 when he came into contact with a high-voltage power line.
Jamie Nash, of Garland, Texas, nearly died in a car crash in Ennis in 2010. Her car erupted in flames, and she was trapped. She was severely burned on her hands, back and legs.
Dallas Wiens and Jamie Nash, who got engaged last fall, exchanged vows Saturday morning at the Fort Worth church where Dallas was working when he was critically hurt.
Dallas Wiens, who became the first person in the US to receive a full face transplant, got married to fellow burn patient Jamie Nash
Pastor Scott Cox says about 200 people attended the wedding at Ridglea Baptist Church, including doctors and nurses who had treated the couple.
He says the couple told him they believe God brought them together.
Dallas Wiens, 27, was painting the church in 2008 when he touched a power line. He suffered facial injuries and was blinded. In 2011 he underwent a full facial transplant at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Jamie Nash’s hands and back were burnt in a 2010 traffic accident.
The couple met in a support group at Parkland Hospital, where both were being treated.
Dallas Wiens’ features burned away and he was left blind after his head touched a high-voltage power line while painting the Ridglea Baptist Church in November 2008.
The man received a new nose, lips, skin, muscle and nerves from an anonymous donor, and has had more than 38 surgeries.
However the transplant, which was paid for by the US military, was unable to restore his sight, and some nerves were so badly damaged from his injury that he has partial sensation on his left cheek and the left side of his forehead.
Describing the first moment she locked eyes on him at the Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Jamie Nash said: ‘I just looked at him from across the room, and there was something about him’.
Dallas Wiens, who was previously married but filed for divorce before his accident in November 2008, said he wasn’t interested in getting into a relationship at first.
“I had sworn off love and relationships,” he said.
“I had no desire to be in one whatsoever.”
Then, on Christmas Eve, they talked all night and set up a date.
“We went to dinner and a movie, and that’s all she wrote,” Dallas Wiens said.
The couple said they have been together every day since.
“I told him it’s got to be love, because I’m not sick of you,” Jamie Nash joked.
“I know I’ve never felt more real than this.”
They plan to put their pasts behind them.
“There’s no reason to dwell on the past,” Dallas Wiens said.
“It’s dead and gone,” Jamie Nash added.
“It burned in the fire.”
Dallas Wiens and Jamie Nash said they make the perfect couple and help balance each other.
Her hands, for example, were severely injured in her accident. His are fine.
Jamie can see. Dallas lost his eyesight in the accident.
“It’s a story of hope, a story of true survivors,” Jamie Nash said.
“I mean, if we can do it, I guarantee you, anybody out there – we all have a story.
“We’re all going through something. And I want to give everybody hope.”
US doctors at the University of Maryland gave Richard Norris a new face, including jaw, teeth and tongue, in an operation that is the most extensive face transplant ever performed.
Richard Norris, 37, has lived as a recluse for 15 years after being severely injured in a gun accident, and wore a mask whenever he went outside.
The surgery was funded by the US Navy, which hopes the techniques will help casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Surgeons who carried out the 36-hour operation say it was part of a series of transplant operations lasting 72 hours, using organs from one donor in five patients including Richard Norris.
He lost his lips and nose in the accident, and only had limited movement of his mouth.
US doctors at the University of Maryland gave Richard Norris a new face, including jaw, teeth and tongue, in an operation that is the most extensive face transplant ever performed
The lead surgeon says Richard Norris will now get his life back.
“Our goal is to restore function as well as have aesthetically pleasing results,” said Eduardo Rodriguez.
The team at the University of Maryland says Richard Norris is now brushing his teeth and shaving, and has regained his sense of smell.
The US government estimates that 200 wounded troops might be eligible for face transplants.
The first face transplant was performed in France in 2005, on a woman who was mauled by her dog.
In 2010 surgeons in Spain carried out the world’s first full face transplant.
