Member Since: 1/3/2010
Posts: 21,098
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Incredible Face Transplant
Pictured: Horrifically injured gun accident victim shows off results of the most extensive face transplant ever performed
-Richard Lee Norris, 37, injured in 1997 in gun accident, was treated by 100-strong team of doctors at University of Maryland in March
-Mr Norris said: 'I am now able to walk past people and no one even gives me a second look'
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When he shot himself in the face in 1997, Mr Norris lost his nose, lips and most movement in his mouth. He has had multiple life-saving, reconstructive surgeries which also replaced underlying nerve and muscle tissue from scalp to neck. Motor function is now 80 per cent on the right side of the face and 40 per cent on the left.
'I am now able to walk past people and no one even gives me a second look. My friends have moved on with their lives, starting families and careers. I can now start working on the new life given back to me,' he said in a release to NBC.
He received the new face from an anonymous donor in March whose organs saved five other patients' lives on the same day.
The transplant was led by Dr Eduardo D. Rodriguez, professor of surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and chief of plastic, reconstructive and maxillofacial surgery at Shock Trauma.
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'Before, people used to stare at Richard because he wore a mask and they wanted to see the deformity,' Rodriguez said in March. 'Now, they have another reason to stare at him, and it's really amazing.'
Mr Norris opened his eyes on the third day after the surgery with his family around him. 'He put the mirror down and thanked me and hugged me,' said Dr Rodriguez. 'We concealed all the lines so it would give him the most immediate best appearance with minimal touch-ups down the road.'
To ensure Mr Norris would retain maximum function of his facial expressions and movements, doctors gave him a new tongue for proper speech, eating, and chewing, normally aligned teeth, and connected his nerves to allow for smiling.
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Norris's transplant comes on the heels of successful face transplants in Forth Worth, Texas, and Boston, Massachusetts, last year. He is the first full face transplant recipient in the United States to retain his eyesight.
A virtual army of 100 doctors, scientists and other university medical staff ranging from plastic surgeons to craniofacial specialists teamed up for the operation.
The surgery involved ten years of research funded by the Department of Defense's Office of Naval Research, and will serve as a model for helping war veterans injured by improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan, the university said.
Rodriguez saluted the work of the teams around the world that had conducted the 22 face transplants to date, without which, he said, this operation would not have been possible.
The first full face transplant was performed in France in 2005 on a woman who was mauled by her dog. The Cleveland Clinic performed the first face transplant in the U.S. in 2008.
The Department of Defense has been funding some face and hand surgeries with the goal of helping wounded soldiers. More than 1,000 troops have lost an arm or leg in Afghanistan or Iraq, and the government estimates that 200 troops might be eligible for face transplants.
The University of Maryland's research on transplants was funded by a grant from the Office of Naval Research, and doctors said they hope to begin operating soon on military patients. Officials provided little detail on Norris or the circumstances of the accident.
'This accidental injury just destroyed everything. The rest of his friends and colleagues went on to start getting married, having children, owning homes,' Dr Rodriguez said.
'He wants to make up for all of that.'
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Transplant
I think this is incredible. I'm so happy for this man.  
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I bet he's over the moon with the results
