Full-face transplant patient recovering well, say US doctors

Associated Press in Boston, guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 22 March 2011:

A Texas construction worker horribly disfigured in a power line accident has undergone the nation's first full-face transplant in the hope of smiling again and feeling kisses from his three-year-old daughter.

Dallas Wiens, 25, received a new nose, lips, skin, muscle and nerves from an unidentified dead person in an operation paid for by the US military, which wants to use what is learned to help soldiers with severe facial wounds.

Wiens will not resemble "either what he used to be or the donor", but something in between, said plastic surgeon Dr Bohdan Pomahac, "The tissues are really moulded on a new person," he added.

Pomahac led a team of more than 30 doctors, nurses and other staff at Brigham and Women's hospital during the 15-hour operation last week. Wiens was listed in good condition at the Boston hospital on Monday. He did not appear at a news conference with the surgeon.

The Fort Worth man's features were all but burned away and he was left blind after hitting a power line while painting a church in November 2008. The transplant was not able to restore his sight, and some nerves were so badly damaged from his injury that he will probably have only partial sensation on his left cheek and left forehead, the surgeon said.

"When I saw Dallas for the first time I was worried that there may not be much we could do," said Pomahac.

Wiens has been able to talk to his family on the phone, said his grandfather, Del Peterson, who attended the news conference on Monday.

After the accident, Wiens said "he could choose to get bitter or he could choose to get better. His choice was to get better. Thank God today he's better," Peterson said.

In a YouTube video last year, Wiens spoke poignantly about why he wanted a transplant and how he wanted to smile again and feel kisses from his daughter, Scarlette. Face transplants give horribly disfigured people hope of an option other than "looking in the mirror and hating what they see", he said.

He said his daughter and his faith kept him motivated. "She says, 'Daddy has a boo boo, but God and the doctors are making Daddy's boo boo all better,'" Wiens said. "She doesn't care and she never has since day one that I was disfigured."

No details about the donor were disclosed. The hospital said the match was based on gender, race, age and blood type.

Peterson said his grandson hoped to become an advocate for facial donations, and he thanked the donor family, saying: "You will forever remain in our hearts and our prayers and we are grateful for your selflessness." Read more>>