Dr. Eduardo Rodiguez, the surgeon who led a 150 member medical team that carried out the procedure, stated that movement of the eyes and the ability to blink and get a few shut eye were the key steps to save the blue eyes of Patrick from blindness that was looking almost inevitable earlier.
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More than 100 doctors, nurses, technical and support staff took part in the 26-hour operation, conducted in mid-August at the NYU Langone Medical Center, the center announced.
Now, just three months removed from surgery, he is quickly returning to the routines of daily life independently. When his mom was contacted about another – a firefighter named Patrick Hardison, whose face was severely burned in a fire in 2001 – she didn’t hesitate.
The roof collapsed, leaving him with third-degree burns and taking his ears, his eyelids and his face.
Addressing the amount of tissue used, Dr. Rodriguez called the facial transplant the most extensive to date.
“Everything has to be perfectly positioned”, Rodriguez told Reuters, including the bones, muscles, ear canals, lips and nerves.
Hardison, who was told he had a 50-50 chance of surviving the surgery, still has constant pain and could still face potential complications from the surgery.
A USA firefighter has become the recipient of the most extensive face transplant ever, after he suffered horrific injuries trying to save people from a house fire.
Dr Rodriguez, his plastic surgeon estimates that no more than five of the other patients who have received facial transplants around the world died after the new tissue was rejected.
“The procurement of the face took approximately 12 hours, the preparation of Patrick’s face took approximately eight hours”, said Rodriguez. In one room, the donors face was procured and in the other, the recipient’s face and scalp burn was removed before the transplant took place.
“I am deeply grateful to my donor and his family”, he added.
Hardison received a face transplant from 26-year-old David Rodebaugh, a mechanic who died after a bike accident in July. “I hope they see in me the goodness of their decision”, Hardison said.
Face transplants have been performed successfully before; in 2012, a team at the University of Maryland Medical Center replaced a gun attack victim’s face with that of an anonymous donor – including both jaws, teeth, and tongue.
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The transplant extends down to the collarbones in front; in back, it reaches far enough down that only a tiny patch of Hardison’s original hair remains.
