Ever since 2008, the United States has witnessed several face transplantation, giving people who have severely damaged their face new lives through partially or totally different faces from donors. It has never been an easy task when someone receives a new face. The surgery requires tedious amounts of effort from medical specialists to make it happen. The patient then has to adapt to their new face requiring a complex rehabilitation process where they have to learn how to eat, speak and the ability to make certain facial expressions again.
Also, this rehabilitation process requires a mirror, so for patients who end up being blind from an injury are pretty much out of luck. One of the major publicly reported cases of facial transplants is Connie Culp. She received the first near-total face transplant in the U. S when she was shot by her husband in 2004. Culp was left partially blind, unable to smell or speak, and dependent on a surgical opening in her neck to breathe.
It was a 22 hour surgery at the Cleveland Clinic that gave her most of a new face from a donor. Culp met the family of the donor in December 2010 and was really happy with the transformation. Culp, now 49, has the ability to smell, and eat almost any kind of solid foods. She also has the ability to smile, frown and her speech is easily understood. Before the operation, Culp did not have a nose; now she can breathe through it.
