We're so lucky in this country to have the second amendment so we can have as many guns as we want.
United States sees first face
Connie Culp of Ohio who was shot in the face by her husband was the recipient of the first United States face transplant at the Cleveland Clinic late last year.
The wounds Culp endured on a late night in September 2004 were once thought to be permanent.
After nearly 30 surgeries at the Cleveland Clinic failed to help her, she became only the fourth person in the world to undergo a face transplant.
Connie Culp lost the middle of her face in the fall of 2004 when her husband shot her and then turned the gun on himself.
The husband only sustained minor injuries from this self inflected wound and is serving a seven year sentence in prison. However, Connie Culp, 40 at the time, lost her nose, one eye, her upper jaw and upper lip, palate and lower eyelids. She couldn’t eat solid food, drink from a cup, smell or taste. She could only breathe through a hole cut into her throat.
During a news briefing Tuesday, the team of eight doctors that did the operation stated that the surgery will enable her to drink from a cup, eat solid food, smell and breathe through her nose. The surgeons removed most of the face of a deceased donor and placed it onto Ms. Culp like a mask, incorporating portions of her own visage. About 80% of the patient’s face was replaced.
Although Culp’s expressions are still a bit awkward, she can talk, smile, smell and taste her food once again. Her speech is at times a little tough to understand. Her face is bloated and squarish, and her skin droops in big folds that doctors plan to pare away as her circulation improves and her nerves grow, animating her new muscles.
“I guess I’m the one you came to see today,” the 46-year-old Ohio woman said at a news conference at the Cleveland Clinic, where the groundbreaking operation was performed. But “I think it’s more important that you focus on the donor family that made it so I could have this person’s face.”
efitnessnow.com |
