Face Transplant Surgeons Make History And Change A Man's Life

Volunteer firefighter Patrick Hardison, a 41-year-old resident of Senatobia, Mississippi, suffered extensive facial burns after responding to a residential fire in 2001 -- and his life has never been the same. He lost his eyelids, ears, lips, most of his nose and all facial hair in the accident. Ever since, Hardison would wear a basketball cap, sunglasses, and prosthetic ears to cover his wounds while in public. But now, he has a new face. Watch a video about Hardison's emotional journey above. Hardison underwent a face transplant surgery at New York University's Langone Medical Center in August, receiving a new face, scalp, ears, chin, cheeks, nose, eyelids, and the eye muscles that control blinking. Now that he is successfully recovering, the procedure is being called the most extensive face transplant to date, and the first in New York. The hospital announced the surgery in a press conference on Monday. Enabling Hardison to open and close his eyelids was the surgery's primary purpose, said Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, a plastic surgeon at the center who led the 26-hour procedure. It's the first time that doctors have transplanted a patient's eyelids. "We often think how one could live with this type of injury, but Patrick did. He persisted," Rodriguez said. Surgeons completed the procedure using the face of 26-year-old David Rodebaugh, a Brooklyn bike mechanic who was pronounced brain dead after a bicycle accident and who donated his organs through Live...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news