CLEVELAND, Ohio -- - Shot in the face by her husband four-years-ago Connie Culp of Hopedale Ohio was left disfigured. For four years she had no nose. The bony structure that once supported her face was gone, as was most of her face. She could not breathe other than through a tracheotomy, could not smell, could not even drink or eat normally.
Several dozen reconstructive surgeries left her not much better off. Connie became afraid to go out in public where doctors say children would run away from her because of her appearance. More details on this incident with 6 more pics after the jump.
Several dozen reconstructive surgeries left her not much better off. Connie became afraid to go out in public where doctors say children would run away from her because of her appearance. More details on this incident with 6 more pics after the jump.
Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic set out to try something that had never been done before, not to the extent they had planned for Connie, a total face transplant.
Specialists say their purpose for even considering the surgery is not cosmetic. Their goal was to restore her facial functions and to give Connie the ability to eat and breath, to smell and to interact socially as normally as possible once again.
Surgeons in December removed not just the skin, but the bony structures underneath, the nerves, facial muscles, lower eyelids, the palate from a local donor and in a 22 hour surgery attached the donor face to Connie.
After four years being afraid to go out in public, Connie now simply wants to go home to her two children in Hopedale Ohio near Stubenville, and blend in.
She will have to take medications to prevent her body from rejecting the transplant but so far so good. Doctors say there was only one episode where they were able to see clinical signs of rejection on day 47, several months ago, but that was addressed and since then she has been fine. The more time that passes since the surgery the less concerned they will become about her body rejecting her new face.
Dr. Chad Gordon, a plastic surgeon who is part of the team says before the surgery Connie wrote down as her three top goals that she wanted to once again taste a steak, smell an apple pie, and be able to go out in public again without having children run away from her. "Now she can do all three" Gordon said.
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