CNN
Dallas Wiens may soon be able to kiss his daughter, Scarlette, again, now that he has become only the second person in the world to receive a full face transplant.
The 25-year-old Wiens, who lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, received the new face at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital last week, when a family donated a loved one's tissue for the transplant surgery. The forehead, nasal structure, nose, lips, facial skin and underlying muscles and nerves that allow Wiens to move his face and have sensations were transplanted. The hospital would not reveal the actual surgery date to protect the privacy of the donor family.
"Dallas was injured in November 2008 when his face got too close to high-voltage line while on the job," Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, Brigham and Women's Burn Unit director, told reporters Monday. "He sustained devastating injury leaving him with bare bones instead of face."
Dallas Wiens before his surgery
Pomahac said the purpose of the full face transplant is to restore "human appearance and function." After his face healed from the accident, Wiens' only facial trait was his mouth. Once his new face heals, he will not look like himself, nor will he look like the donor because the new tissue will mold to the young man's remaining tissue and bones.
Wiens' grandfather, who is with his grandson in Boston right now, calls the surgery a miracle. He says after his grandson was so seriously injured, he did not know what would happen. His grandson, he says, is determined to "get well and move on with his life and make something of his life." Wiens has been walking and talking to his family in Texas by phone. Doctors expect he will be eating on his own soon...[Full Article]
