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Medicine With a new face, facial transplant wakes up after suicide attempt
About ten years ago, American Andy Sandness suffered so much depression that he tried to kill himself. He shot himself in the head with a gun and survived; his face was disfigured since then. A few months ago, the face of a dead donor was transplanted to him. Now the now 31-year-old could see the result for the first time.
Transplantation medicine made great progress
Transplantation medicine has made tremendous progress worldwide in recent decades. For example, medical doctors in the US have succeeded in the sensational transplantation of a skullcap. In South Africa, the first successful penile transplantation has been performed. Meanwhile, even a head transplant is planned. Face transplants have been performed since 2005. From this experience benefited now also an American, whose face was disfigured after a suicide attempt.
Physicians in the US have transplanted a new face to a man who shot himself nose and jaw in a suicide attempt. The patient is very satisfied with the result. (Image: Herrndorff / fotolia.com) Suicide attempt failed
It was just before Christmas in 2006, when then heavily depressed 21-year-old Andy Sandness decided to put an end to his life, the news agency AP reports. He shot himself in the head - and survived. His face, however, was largely destroyed.
Now the now 31-year-old has undergone a face transplant, the first one performed at the prestigious Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He has received his nose, cheeks, mouth, jaw, chin and even the teeth from his donor.
He still can not speak clearly, but when he first saw his new face, he wrote on a notebook: "Far above my expectations".
Surgeon Samir Mardini replied, "You do not know how happy we are."
Patient without nose and jaw
Sandness immediately knew from his attempted suicide that he had made a big mistake. According to AP, when he arrived at his home in Wyoming, he implored the officers: "Please, please do not let me die!"
He was reportedly treated in two hospitals before being transferred to the Mayo Clinic, where he met plastic surgeon Mardini, a facial reconstruction specialist.
According to the news agency, the patient had no nose and no jaw, his mouth was smashed, only two teeth were preserved. In the clinic, his upper and lower jaws were rebuilt with bones, muscles and skin from the hip and one leg. The facial bones were connected with titanium plates and screws.
Mouth was too small for a spoon
About four and a half months later - after about eight operations - Sandness returned to his hometown of Newcastle and started working again. However, he did not lead a "normal" life. He avoided eye contact with children so as not to frighten them, he had almost no social life and often withdrew completely.
The young man always had to cut his food into small bites because his mouth was too small for a spoon. And the nasal prosthesis he was wearing was constantly falling.
"You never quite accept it," said Sandness. "At some point, you wonder if there are not other options."
In the following years, he came regularly to the Mayo Clinic for investigations, where he was finally informed in 2012 that the hospital wants to start a program for facial transplants.
Mardini then told him that he could be an ideal patient, but he wanted to think things through, as only about two dozen face transplants were performed worldwide.
First successful face transplant
The first successful facial transplant was performed in 2005, last year the French patient died. Another sensation was a 27-hour surgery in Barcelona, at which a 45-year-old got a new face.
And just a few months ago, New York University's (NYU) Langone Medical Center (USA) performed a successful face transplant with a fireman who suffered severe burns from a job.
The treating surgeon Eduardo D. Rodriguez had stated in a statement that the doctors were amazed at the recovery of the patient, "all our expectations were exceeded".
Widow of the donor was initially skeptical
Sandness opted for the operation. "When you look what I looked like, and you work the way I worked, you fall for every glimmer of hope that comes with it," he said, according to AP. "And that was the operation that would make me live a normal life again."
However, before being included in the new program, Sandness had to undergo a rigorous evaluation by psychiatrists and social workers, which of course included his previous suicide attempt.
The experts considered it appropriate, and just five months after being enlisted in organ donation, Sandness was notified in June last year that a donor was found for him.
It was a young man who had shot himself. At the request of the deceased, his 19-year-old widow released his heart, lungs, liver, kidneys and face for organ donation. However, the decision to donate the face was difficult: "At first I was skeptical. I did not want to run around and suddenly see his face, "said the young woman.
However, the doctors assured her that the recipient still had his own eyes and forehead and therefore would never look the same as the deceased.
56-hour operation marathon
With the help of the donation, the Mayo Clinic team completely rebuilt the face of Sandness in a 56-hour operation marathon below the eyes last summer.
The young man is said to be particularly happy to have a nose and a mouth again today. According to the information, he can eat steak and pizza again. His anonymity also gives him pleasure.
Sandness explained that while visiting a hockey game, he was recently "just another face in the crowd". The mere memory of it makes him smile. (Ad)