In March 2011, Dallas Wiens became the first full face transplant recipient in the USA. A team of over 30 people including physicians, nurses, anesthesiologists and residents worked for more than 15 hours to replace Wiens’s damaged facial area. The transplant included the nose, lips, skin, muscles of facial animation and the nerves that power them and provide sensation. The surgery was conducted at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, USA, led by Bohdan Pomahac. Wiens had received full facial burns as a result of an accident with an electricity cable. He spoke about his transplant at a press conference, a short excerpt of which is below.
You can read more about Wiens’s transplant in this article, which also indicates that the transplant was part of a longer process. This patient journey is one of the things that the AboutFace project seeks to understand in more depth. You can read more about the history of face transplants with our timeline.
