Woman Recovering From Rare Face Transplant

Cleveland Clinic Says 80 Percent Of Woman's Face Was Replaced With One Donated From Cadaver

(CBS/ AP)  A woman who had suffered severe facial trauma got essentially a whole new face in a first-of-its-kind operation at the Cleveland Clinic, hospital officials said Wednesday.

Only the woman's upper eyelids, forehead, lower lip and chin were left - the other 80 percent of her face was replaced with one donated from a female cadaver during the 22-hour surgery.

It was the nation's first face transplant and the fourth worldwide.

The patient's name and age were not released, and the hospital said her family wanted the reason for her transplant to remain confidential.

The woman's injuries were so severe that she lacked a nose and palate, and could not eat or breathe on her own without a special opening into her windpipe.

After the transplant, "I must tell you how happy she was when with both her hands she could go over her face and feel that she has a nose, feel that she has a jaw," said the lead surgeon, Dr. Maria Siemionow.

She said the woman is "doing well" and the surgery went according to plan.The transplant was done within the past two weeks.

It is the first facial transplant known to have included bones, along with muscle, skin, blood vessels and nerves. The woman received a nose, most of the sinuses around the nose, the upper jaw and even some teeth, said Dr. Frank Papay, the clinic's plastic surgery chief.

"This patient exhausted all conventional means of reconstruction, and is the right patient," Siemionow said at a news conference.

So many disfigured patients are stuck "in their houses who are hiding from society," afraid to go out, she said.

"Our patient was called names and was humiliated," she said. "You need a face to face the world."

The face was donated by a family that asked specifically to approve the gift and was not done under general organ donation consent rules, said officials of LifeBanc, the Northeast Ohio organ procurement group that arranged the transplant.

The hospital posted a statement from the woman's sibling on its Web site.

"We never thought for a moment that our sister would ever have a chance at a normal life again, after the trauma she endured," it says. "But thanks to the wonderful person that donated her organs to help another living human being, she has another chance to live a normal life. Our family cannot thank you enough."

Unlike operations involving vital organs like hearts and livers, transplants of faces or hands are done to improve quality of life - not extend it. Recipients run the risk of deadly complications and must take immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of their lives to prevent organ rejection, raising their odds of cancer and many other problems.

Siemionow considered dozens of potential candidates over the past four years, ever since the clinic's internal review board gave permission for her to attempt the operation.

"The surgery took 22 hours. The preparation to the surgery took over 20 years," she said Wednesday.

The world's first partial face transplant was performed in France in 2005 on a 38-year-old woman who had been mauled by her dog. Isabelle Dinoire received a new nose, chin and lips from a brain-dead donor. She has done so astoundingly well that surgeons have become more comfortable with a radical operation considered unthinkable a decade ago.

CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar reports that three years later, Dinoire says she is still struggling to come to terms with what she sees in the mirror every day.

Dinoire said in an interview last month that "it takes an awful lot of time to get used to someone else's face. It's a peculiar type of transplant."

What does she see? Not her old face, but something that is halfway between what she looked like and what the deceased donor looked like.

"The patient in France, when I had the opportunity to talk to her, she really was very excited about her new face and absolutely had no regrets and as a matter of fact, she said she would go for it anytime in the future," said Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, a plastic surgeon.

Two others have received partial face transplants since then - a Chinese farmer attacked by a bear and a European man disfigured by a genetic condition.

[easeup-2009]

I couldn''t face the facts on this article at first, then I did an about-face.

[aerodog]

easeup - Let''s just face it, this is merely another ''facet'' of medicine.

[excoachken]

Maybe Jeff Triplett (the referee who got drilled on the Jets fumble recovery TD last Sunday) can get his repaired. He took a great shot from Bills center Duke Preston----------about the only good block he has made all year. Oh, well, I digress.......

[notmudrose1]

if the woman turns out to be a dog will she sing "How much is that doggie in the mirror"?

[notmudrose1]

the woman was a former hockey standout at face-offs!

[notmudrose1]

i guess she won''t be having a face to face meeting with the cadaver.

[beader59]

The jokes are tasteless. I have a sense of humor too, but you people are a little crass. Anyway, why report this story when only a portion of it is allowed to be known.

[superdem]

This is so wonderful - that they can even do this. I hope this woman can finally have a chance at life, we take so much for granted. We are so much more than what we look like - yet that remains so important. I hope this woman can adjust and understand how beautiful she is, no matter what she looks like. Blessings and peace to her. And to her donor !

[observer2020]

BRdeckard: She wasn''t worried about a guy being interested in her. She couldn''t go out of the house because people are so shallow they made hateful comments to someone that was injured and trying to get on with her life. People take appearances as who you are. That''s not true. There''s a lot of heart in what society terms as "ugly" people...just as there is no heart in "beautiful" people. How does that song go..."never make a pretty woman your wife." There''s a lot of truth in that. Would you want someone to stands by you in thick in thin or someone shallow that just wants your money and dumps you back in the ditch you came from?

[notmudrose1]

coincidence? the operation took place in cleveland. did the face come from the guy killed from head injuries in the auto accident and was towed away to the impound lot for 2 days before the body was found in the car.

did this woman get a man''s face? if so, did the woman already have a mustache?

[denn034]

Gives new meaning to drop dead gorgeous that''s for sure.

[billpl-2009]

new hope for Madonna

[onlythereal-]

Yes, the jokes are tasteless and insensitive, translation of insensitive (Deficient in human sensibility; not mentally or morally sensitive)that explains aproximately 95% of the posters on this site. We now live in a world where most people cannot see past their own selves. I am glad for this woman, maybe now she can have as much of a normal life as possible.

[dbstevens]

For those of you with the tasteless jokes, you don''t come across as clever at all. In fact, just the opposite. If you can''t empathize with the joy this woman must feel to have the possibility of a life again, I feel sad for you.

Perhaps some of you just don''t know what to say, so you resort to tasteless jokes. Just be happy for this woman and hope that you are never in a position anywhere near hers....

[billpl-2009]

brucestevens and onlythereal-

you''re right, a face transplant isn''t very funny
but if they transplanted a but-thole on you guy''s foreheads?
now THAT, would be funny

[andsab]

mnelsonix,

You are so rude!!

[nothappyatall]

***, I just can''t face this!

[incog-nito]

I think combining "rare" with "face transplant" is somewhat redundant.

[carlylaine]

To you who wrote the funny comments--pay no attention to people who are so pinched up that they are unable to see the humor in life.

[rf35]

Talk about an extreme makeover!

[mswolfestock]

Some of y''all are in dire need of a personality implant.

[grammawhamma]

I''m not trying to be funny here... but it sounds to me like the woman recieved these injuries from a failed suicide attempt.