Cleveland Clinic performs its first full face transplant

July 19, 2017  21:31

For 31 hours, Cleveland Clinic doctors huddled together in the operating room, making history for the health system and a new life for the patient on the table.

In May, a team of doctors completed the Clinic's first full face transplant, giving the 21-year-old patient a completely new face - from her scalp to her facial muscles to her eyelids. The patient, whose identity is not being shared publicly, is the youngest person in the U.S. to receive a face transplant.

"To reach this point of recovery has often times been a difficult road to travel, but I'm thankful there's been a road," the patient said in a news release. "And to my donor and her family - words cannot express the appreciation I have for this incredible gift. With a grateful heart, I say 'thank you' to all who have made this possible for me."

The transplant will hopefully restore the patient's abilities to speak, breathe, chew, swallow and use her face to express emotions, something she has struggled to do since she suffered a gunshot wound as a teenager.

Dr. Brian Gastman, who was part of the surgical team, said the surgery will give the patient a "functional life."

"With a new nose, lips, palate, eyelids and jaw, she now has the full opportunity to re-integrate into society and have a future just like any other young adult. This surgery can give her back the self-esteem and confidence she lost," Gastman said.

The patient was chosen for a face transplant because a facial reconstruction alone wouldn't have been able to improve her facial disfigurement or improve her quality of life, the Clinic said. She currently is "recovering well" and already walking and talking, according to the Clinic, and doctors expect her to be eating through her mouth soon.

But the recovery process will be a long one. The patient will have extensive rehabilitative therapy, including physical therapy, speech and swallowing therapy and occupational therapy, and will be monitored for signs that her body is rejecting the tissue. And she will take immunosuppressant medication, which prevents the immune system from rejecting the transplant, for the rest of her life.

"Plastic surgery is about restoring form and function," said Dr. Frank Papay, chairman of the Clinic's Dermatology and Plastic Surgery Institute and who co-directed the surgery. "Function comes before form, and prior to the face transplant, this patient had extremely poor function and form. Our job in reconstruction is to weigh the risk versus the benefit of doing face transplantation, and we felt the risk was well worth it to give this patient better function, better social form and, ultimately, a better life."

Nine years ago, the Clinic performed the first near-total face transplant in the U.S. At the time, it was considered the most complex such transplant in the world. Today, six facilities in the U.S. perform face transplants. Less than three dozen face transplants have occurred across the world.

Follow NEWS.am Medicine on Facebook and Twitter


 
  • Video
 
 
  • Event calendar
 
 
  • Archive
 
  • Most read
 
  • Find us on Facebook
 
  • Poll
Are you aware that in 2027 medical insurance will become mandatory for all Armenian citizens?
I’m aware, and I'm in favor
I’m not aware, and I'm against
I'm aware, but I'm still undecided
I'm not aware, but in principle I'm in favor
I'm not aware, but in principle I'm against
It doesn't matter to me