Washington, 28 mar ( EFE).- A group of surgeons at the University of Maryland (USA) claims to have made the “most complete” face transplant of the story to a man who lived for 15 years with a mask after suffering an accident with a firearm that disfigured her face.
The operation, which lasted 36 hours and was held on 19 and 20 March, included the transplantation of teeth, the jaw, part of the language and all facial tissue from the scalp to the base of the neck, have reported the University Medical Center surgeons.
Patient is Richard Norris, a man of 37 years of Hillsville, Virginia,.
Norris was 22 years old when an accident with a firearm left him with the sunken face and lips, nose and the front part of the tongue.
For 15 years Norris led a surgical mask, he avoided eating in public and he lived “as a hermit”, according to doctors that operated it.
According to surgeons, Norris has already begun to feel his face, brushing teeth and shave, and has also recovered the sense of smell, which had lost following the accident.
The operation was the culmination of a decade of research funded by the Office of Naval Research of the Department of Defense, as part of an effort to expand the possibilities of facial reconstruction for wounded military.
Norris was elected as a candidate for transplantation by Eduardo Rodriguez, a surgeon at the University of Maryland, in 2005 after undergoing a rigorous evaluation that included physical and psychological exams.
The first transplant of face in the world was held in France on November 27, 2005 in a hospital in Amiens a patient disfigured by the bite of a dog which was implemented the nose, lips and Chin.
Since then have been several face transplant in countries such as China, Spain and United States. EFE
