I saw this in my Facebook feed and am just in complete awe. Modern medicine can perform fucking miracles.
A few years ago a man tried to kill himself by shooting himself in the head from under the chin. He miraculously survived, but was left horribly disfigured. It took eight surgeries just to get him into a stable condition after his suicide attempt.
- The surgeon who spear-headed the facial transplant was the same one who performed those ^^ life-saving surgeries.
- The entire lower half of his face had to be reconstructed, from the eye-sockets down.
- The face itself was from a donor - a 21 year-old who, in a depressing coincidence, had shot himself.
- The skeletal reconstruction was based on the donor's anatomy, so the face would look natural when placed on top of it.
- Everything from muscles, veins, and nerves had to be meticulously placed.
- Eight surgeons of various specialities and 40 surgical staff were required to complete the procedure.
- The entire operation was rehearsed from start-to-finish over 30 times by everyone involved before the final day(s).
- The surgery took 56 consecutive hours to complete.
- Like with any other transplant, the man will have to have constant medical check-ups and medication to ensure his body doesn't reject the new face.
- He has learned to speak again through speech-therapy.
The donor (left) and the recipient before he'd attempted suicide (right):
I'll spoiler the before and after:
A few years ago a man tried to kill himself by shooting himself in the head from under the chin. He miraculously survived, but was left horribly disfigured. It took eight surgeries just to get him into a stable condition after his suicide attempt.
- The surgeon who spear-headed the facial transplant was the same one who performed those ^^ life-saving surgeries.
- The entire lower half of his face had to be reconstructed, from the eye-sockets down.
- The face itself was from a donor - a 21 year-old who, in a depressing coincidence, had shot himself.
- The skeletal reconstruction was based on the donor's anatomy, so the face would look natural when placed on top of it.
- Everything from muscles, veins, and nerves had to be meticulously placed.
- Eight surgeons of various specialities and 40 surgical staff were required to complete the procedure.
- The entire operation was rehearsed from start-to-finish over 30 times by everyone involved before the final day(s).
- The surgery took 56 consecutive hours to complete.
- Like with any other transplant, the man will have to have constant medical check-ups and medication to ensure his body doesn't reject the new face.
- He has learned to speak again through speech-therapy.
The donor (left) and the recipient before he'd attempted suicide (right):
I'll spoiler the before and after:
