Tuesday, March 22, 2011

‘Miracle’ transplant gives dad fresh start

The historic and ground-breaking full-face transplant conducted at Brigham and Women's Hospital was aimed at giving hope to scores of severely battle-scarred soldiers of the Iraq and Afghan wars — but it also has given a brave little girl a daddy with a face.

A trailblazing team from Brigham and Women's Hospital successfully completed the nation's first complete-face transplant on a Texan left deformed by a high-voltage line accident. The only other full-face transplant was performed in Spain last year.

Dallas Wiens, 25, of Fort Worth underwent more than 15 hours of surgery last week by teams of doctors who worked to attach an anonymous donor's nose, lips and skin, linking the donor's facial muscles and nerves to his. The surgery was financed by the Department of Defense, which wants to develop ways to help disfigured soldiers.

More

No comments: