How gunshot survivor became first to receive face transplant

[superstring01]

How gunshot survivor became first to receive face transplant
By Madison Park and Stephanie Smith
CNN

This image projects what Connie Culp, 46, may look like two years after the face transplant.

Culp, who lost the mid-portion of her face to a gunshot wound, spoke to WTOV in a 2008 interview.

Culp spoke at a news conference Tuesday where she was identified as the first U.S. recipient of a face transplant

(CNN) -- Doctors chose a woman who survived a shotgun wound to her face as the first recipient of a face transplant after treating her for nearly four years.

Connie Culp knew of the Cleveland Clinic's interest in face transplants and approached the medical staff, doctors said at a news conference Tuesday.

Dr. Maria Siemionow, the Cleveland, Ohio, hospital's director of plastic surgery research and head of microsurgery training, had more than 20 years of experience in complex transplants. By 2004, Siemionow was looking for the right candidate for a face transplant who wasn't doing it for vanity.

I find this whole "face transplant" thing to be amazing.

~String

 

[cosmictraveler]

They said that she will have a few more surgeries to make her new face look even better so that in a few years no one will tell that she had anything wrong. Great job by those doctors I'd say!

 

[Orleander]

I think her ex is serving 7 yrs. Not near long enough

 

[Hercules Rockefeller]

How gunshot survivor became first to receive face transplant

This should read: "How gunshot survivor became first in the USA to receive face transplant."


I think this is the fourth full facial transplant with the technique previously performed in the UK and France.

 

[takandjive]

Um, I'd be hitting uptown if my face was destroyed and I now looked pretty normal. Any haters can go to hell. And seven years is not long enough to be punished for putting her through this hell.

 

[Orleander]

This should read: "How gunshot survivor became first in the USA to receive face transplant."


I think this is the fourth full facial transplant with the technique previously performed in the UK and France.

There was one in China as well. They guy was mauled by a bear

 

[Orbit]

I attended a conference in London which was about the ethics behind face transplantation. You would be surprised at the number of people against the surgery! Many saying how it would be awful to see the face of a dead relative walking up the road, despite the fact that it could restore the lives of burn victims etc. . I personally thought it was an obvious point that your facial appearance doesn't really matter on the skin covering but only the bone and muscular structure underneath it.

Is anyone of the opinion that it is ethically wrong? Is a face just skin or is it your identity?

 

[Hercules Rockefeller]

You would be surprised at the number of people against the surgery!

Actually, I am not surprised. People are stupid. Public opinion has been against many major medical advances when they first began. People were against the bionic ear, against IVF, against organ transplantation, and much more. But in each case widespread acceptance came with time. I’m sure this will be the case with full facial transplants.

 

[Liebling]

There was one in China as well. They guy was mauled by a bear

The gentleman in China died post surgery.

http://www.medindia.net/news/China-...s-Death-Not-Due-To-Surgery-Doctor-45419-1.htm

The surgery probably didn't kill him, but the widespread speculation by doctors was that it was because of the immune suppressant drugs that made him susceptible to so many other illnesses. No autopsy was performed, so we'll never know, and won't know how to avoid it. Sad that.

 

[FreshHat]

The gentleman in China died post surgery.

The surgery probably didn't kill him, but the widespread speculation by doctors was that it was because of the immune suppressant drugs that made him susceptible to so many other illnesses. No autopsy was performed, so we'll never know, and won't know how to avoid it. Sad that.

I watched a documentary on TV about the Chinese transplants.

There were two. One man was disfigured in an industrial accident, and the other was the man mauled by a bear. He lived in a remote village, far away from the hospital where the surgery and follow-up care took place.

He insisted on going home, much against the advice of his doctors. He was explicitly told how important it was to continue with his medications, if he was foolish enough to leave the hospital.

Once he was back home, he soon stopped taking the meds, and had a severe relapse. He was still alive at the end of the documentary, but he was in poor condition, and his doctors were really perturbed at his actions.

 

[Orleander]

...Is anyone of the opinion that it is ethically wrong? Is a face just skin or is it your identity?

My face isn't my identity. My brain is. If they start doing brain transplants, I'd take issue with that.