The most complex complete face transplant operation in history has completed successfully

    Welcome to the iCover Blog Pages ! The topic of our publication today is plastic surgery and transplantology, or more precisely, the most complicated and unprecedented in terms of execution level operation for a complete face transplant. It took a total of more than a year to prepare and conduct with a team of plastic surgeons from the Langon Medical Center at the University of New York under the leadership of Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez and spent more than a million dollars. More about this extraordinary event ...



    The storyline of the film “Without Face” with the participation of Nicolas Cage, which we know today, no longer seems fantastic, because the first successful face transplant operation was performed by French plastic surgeons more than 10 years ago. However, according to the level of complexity and technologies used, as well as the achieved result, the operation performed at the Langone Medical Center at the University of New York ( Langone Medical Center ) can be considered unprecedented with confidence.

    The tragedy with 41-year-old American firefighter Patrick Hardison (Patrick Hardison) occurred during the extinguishing of a fire in 2001 while trying to save a woman from a building enveloped in flames.



    Patrick Hardison before a tragic day

    The resulting burns disfigured Patrick's face beyond recognition. He almost lost his sight. The face, head, neck and upper torso were completely burned. The nose was almost completely lost and the ears, lips, eyebrows, eyelids and hair were completely lost.

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    After the tragedy, shortly before the operation, the

    face donor for Hardison was artist David P. Rodebaugh, who crashed on his motorcycle in his incomplete 26 years a year before the operation and bequeathed his body as a source of donor organs. The consent of the transplant in favor of Patrick also gave the mother of the deceased. The organs transplanted from David subsequently saved the lives of several hopelessly ill people.

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    David Roderbau - Patrick Hardison Donor

    According to the results of the examination, a group of plastic surgeons led by Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, head of the Department of Plastic Surgery named after Hansjorg Wiss, decided to completely transplant the patient not only the face, but also part of the facial bones, nose, ears (including the ear canals), eyelids (including the musculature providing their movement) and the scalp of the donor. The operation, in which more than 100 doctors took part, including paramedical personnel, lasted 26 hours.

    In preparation for the operation, which in total took more than a year, Patrick had to undergo more than 70 preliminary intermediate operations, each of which solved a specific task. The capabilities of computer 3D-modeling and 3D-printing technology were used. The latter was required to recreate the models of donor and recipient goals and to preliminary assess the scope, direction and specificity of the planned work.



    At the same time, despite the carefully carried out preliminary calculations and undertaken preparatory measures, in its practical part the operation turned out to be so complex that it required repeated “reconstruction” of the recipient’s skull shape so that the bone, cartilage and skin integuments took an optimal position.

    The stage of preparation, planning, the operation itself, carried out in August 2015 and subsequent rehabilitation cost the University of New York $ 1,000,000.

    After 3 months, taking into account the patient’s condition and the dynamics of the recovery process, the clinic specialists concluded that Patrick Hardison could be discharged . Of course, in order to prevent the rejection of donor tissue, he will have to take at least one course of special drugs for at least some time. A set of special exercises will also be required to develop facial expressions and learn to speak with new lips.

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    Before and after surgery

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    Before discharge from the clinic,

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    Dr. Rodriguez (center) and the medical staff involved in the preparation and conduct of the operation

    Of course, the result obtained is impressive, but any plastic surgeon knows that the probability of donor tissue rejection always remains. At the same time, life with a face and hope for the future cannot be compared with the prospects that its recent existence opened up for Patrick. The recent patient himself is quite optimistic about the future, and reflects on the continuation of the work that he considers his vocation.

    “I express my deepest gratitude to my donor and his entire family,” Patrick Hadison does not hide his emotions in one of his interviews. - Despite the fact that I do not know them personally, I pray for them every day, knowing what a difficult decision they made to help me. I would also like to thank Dr. Rodriguez and his entire team for giving me something more than a new face. They gave me a new life. ”



    Quick reference


    The father of plastic surgery is considered to be Harold Gillis, who conducted the first operations to restore his appearance back in 1917. One of the first patients who successfully underwent plastic surgery on the face and head was the English sailor from the First World War, Walter Yeo. He received a severe head injury in the famous Battle of Jutland - the largest naval battle of the First World War. Indirectly, it is with this name that the birth of a new direction of medicine is associated.

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    Harold Gillies

    The first ever successful partial face transplant operation. Isabelle Dinouard


    Despite the fact that plastic surgery in its classical interpretation has existed for about a hundred years, the operation on partial face transplantation was carried out only on November 27, 2005. The first patient to have successfully undergone face transplant surgery in 2005 was the 38-year-old Frenchwoman, Isabelle Dinouard, who lost her appearance after an unsuccessful suicide attempt. The dog, maddened by stress, the Labrador, in attempts to bring the mistress to life, gnawed at Dinouard's face beyond recognition. The nose, mouth, and chin were in a state that, according to the surgeons who performed the operation, completely excluded the possibility of plastic reconstruction by any existing methods.

    Plastic surgeons Bernard Devachelle and Jean-Michel Dubernard from the clinic of Amiens University in northern France proposed to conduct the world's first partial face transplant from an anonymous donor - a woman who died the year before. Isabelle agreed. The operation, during which donor facial muscles and tissues, arteries and veins were used, lasted 15 hours.

    Unlike Patrick, Isabelle Dinoir was transplanted the face of an anonymous donor from the city of Lille and the former patient still does not have any information about the woman who donated her face or her loved ones. In accordance with French law, she will not recognize this name until the end of her days.

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    Isabelle Dinouard

    In total, more than 10 such operations have already been carried out in the world, including countries such as the USA, Turkey, China, Spain. Their laboriousness and cost, unfortunately, will not let us talk about getting into the flow for a long time, and the moment when we can change the face that doesn’t suit us if necessary or at will is still in the vastly distant future.

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