In June last year, the Mayo Clinic, one of the largest private medical centers in the world, located in Rochester, Minnesota, USA, underwent the first-ever face transplant operation. This medical procedure, which is still extremely rare even in modern practice, literally connected the fates of two completely different, but at the same time, people who fell into the same circumstances - both tried to commit suicide. Only in one case it ended with an almost completely destroyed person, in the second - with death.
In 2006, 21-year-old Andy Sandness tried to take his own life. The guy shot himself in the chin. The shot destroyed most of his face, but he survived. As soon as the person came to a stable condition, the doctors tried to fix his face, but the absence of a jaw, nose and teeth did not allow a high-quality restoration procedure to be carried out. Be that as it may, the guy somehow got better and returned back to his native Wyoming, where he found a job and even began to get used to such a life.
However, in 2012, the Mayo Medical Center came up with the idea for a face transplant. The procedure is incredibly complex and comes with enormous and numerous risks. But after some deliberation, Sandness agreed to the operation.
“If you looked the way I looked and experience what I felt, then even the tiniest ray of hope will make you agree to this,” Sandness told the Associated Press.
"This operation promised to return not only my face, but also my life."
It took a lot of time to prepare for the face transplant procedure. Over the next three years, doctors at the Mayo Clinic performed a total of about 50 training and preparatory operations. In January 2016, Sandness was added to the list of people waiting for donors, with little hope of getting the right body part over the next few years. However, just five months later, he received a call and was told that they had found the right donor.
It turned out to be 21-year-old Calen Ross, who committed suicide with a shot in the head. Since Ross was an organ donor, the doctors rushed to settle all the issues and sign the necessary documents. After some hesitation, his wife Lilly Ross, who was pregnant at the time, nevertheless agreed to donate her husband's face to another person. She explained her decision by the fact that she would like to tell her son one day how his father was able to help another person even after his death.
The face transplant operation lasted as much as 56 (!) Hours and required the work of more than 60 medical personnel, including several surgeons. It took the doctors a whole day to separate only donor bones, muscles and skin. The rest of the time the surgeons spent on tissue reconstruction and "fitting" the new face to the anatomical features of Sandness, starting from the area below the eyes.
After 32 hours from the start of the procedure, the doctors were able to transplant Sandness's nose, cheeks, mouth, teeth, lips, jaw and chin.
After the operation was over, Sandness was not allowed to look at himself in the mirror for three weeks, but when the time came and he looked at himself for the first time in reflection, he was shocked.
“If you have ever lost something that you have always had, then you roughly represent my feelings. And when you have a chance to bring it back, you are unlikely to give it up, ”says Sandness.
By the time he was able to realize that his face now really looks quite normal, Sandness had been walking for three whole months after the transplant procedure. He was in the elevator then and met a little boy who just looked at him. I just looked without being shocked, as it usually happened with children in a similar situation before the operation.
By now, the person has completely restored the ability to breathe freely, smell and eat in the same manner as he did with his previous face. Sandness enjoys life and is now completely free to be in the crowd.
Youth is great in any case, but there is one huge minus in it - youthful maximalism, because of which serious troubles often happen to young people, sometimes even tragic. It is for this reason that Andy Sandness tried to commit suicide at just 21 when he suffered a bout of depression. After pulling the trigger, Andy instantly realized his mistake and pleaded with doctors to save his life after he was taken to a Wyoming hospital. An instructive story of the tragedy of a former suicide and its moderately happy ending awaits you further.
This is what Andy looked like before he shot himself in the face.
After Andy was taken to the hospital, he was transferred to one of the largest private medical centers in the world, Mayo Clinic, where he met with plastic surgeon Samir Martini.
Despite all the efforts and numerous operations, the doctors were unable to restore his face. Andy had no jaw, no nose, and only 2 teeth left
"I couldn't fully accept my face. In the end, I asked the doctors, 'Ok, is there anything else we can do," Andy said.
Andy continued to visit the medical center until he received a call in 2012 that changed his life.
The fateful call came from a medical center, from which he learned that the center was about to launch a face transplant program and he was the ideal candidate.
After 3 years and many psychiatric examinations, his name was added to the waiting list.
Doctors said that waiting for a donor could last up to 5 years, but a suitable candidate appeared after only 5 months.
Ironically, it also turned out to be a 21-year-old who committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. Unlike Andy's case, he didn't shoot himself in the face, and it was impossible to save him.
Andy with his father Reed and plastic surgeon Samir Martini talk before the operation
After 56 operating hours, a team of doctors was able to transplant a face, completely replacing what Andy had below his eyes.
After the operation, Andy's face looked much better, although it still needed correction.
Andy had to wait 3 weeks before he could see the result of the operation, but his father encouraged him all the time, saying that he would be happy with the result.
After recent facelifts, neck lifts and adjustments to the bones around the eyes (so they don't get drowned so much), Andy was able to get a glimpse of himself.
"Having lost what you have always had, only then you understand what it is like not to have what you lost. And having received a second chance, you will never forget it," Andy said.
While the muscles in Andy's face were strengthening, he worked with a speech therapist, who taught him how to use his new mouth, jaw and tongue to learn how to communicate clearly again.
Andy looks like this now. A real miracle, isn't it?
Andy is now enjoying his new face and is very excited about being able to smell, breathe normally and taste his favorite foods again that he hasn't tasted in 10 years.
At the moment he is enjoying his "anonymity". He visits public places and major events, can eat popcorn and not notice the gaze of others and not hear their whispering
Video about Andy's life before surgery
Now 31, Andy plans to move back to Wyoming, find work as an electrician and start a family.
In June last year, the Mayo Clinic, one of the largest private medical centers in the world, located in Rochester, Minnesota, USA, underwent the first-ever face transplant operation. This medical procedure, which is still extremely rare even in modern practice, literally connected the fates of two completely different, but at the same time, people who fell into the same circumstances - both tried to commit suicide. Only in one case it ended with an almost completely destroyed person, in the second - with death.
In 2006, 21-year-old Andy Sandness tried to take his own life. The guy shot himself in the chin. The shot destroyed most of his face, but he survived. As soon as the person came to a stable condition, the doctors tried to fix his face, but the absence of a jaw, nose and teeth did not allow a high-quality restoration procedure to be carried out. Be that as it may, the guy somehow got better and returned back to his native Wyoming, where he found a job and even began to get used to such a life.
However, in 2012, the Mayo Medical Center came up with the idea for a face transplant. The procedure is incredibly complex and comes with enormous and numerous risks. But after some deliberation, Sandness agreed to the operation.
“If you looked the way I looked and experience what I felt, then even the tiniest ray of hope will make you agree to this,” Sandness told the Associated Press.
"This operation promised to return not only my face, but also my life."
It took a lot of time to prepare for the face transplant procedure. Over the next three years, doctors at the Mayo Clinic performed a total of about 50 training and preparatory operations. In January 2016, Sandness was added to the list of people waiting for donors, with little hope of getting the right body part over the next few years. However, just five months later, he received a call and was told that they had found the right donor.
It turned out to be 21-year-old Calen Ross, who committed suicide with a shot in the head. Since Ross was an organ donor, the doctors rushed to settle all the issues and sign the necessary documents. After some hesitation, his wife Lilly Ross, who was pregnant at the time, nevertheless agreed to donate her husband's face to another person. She explained her decision by the fact that she would like to tell her son one day how his father was able to help another person even after his death.
The face transplant operation lasted as much as 56 (!) Hours and required the work of more than 60 medical personnel, including several surgeons. It took the doctors a whole day to separate only donor bones, muscles and skin. The rest of the time the surgeons spent on tissue reconstruction and "fitting" the new face to the anatomical features of Sandness, starting from the area below the eyes.
After 32 hours from the start of the procedure, the doctors were able to transplant Sandness's nose, cheeks, mouth, teeth, lips, jaw and chin.
After the operation was over, Sandness was not allowed to look at himself in the mirror for three weeks, but when the time came and he looked at himself for the first time in reflection, he was shocked.
“If you have ever lost something that you have always had, then you roughly represent my feelings. And when you have a chance to bring it back, you are unlikely to give it up, ”says Sandness.
By the time he was able to realize that his face now really looks quite normal, Sandness had been walking for three whole months after the transplant procedure. He was in the elevator then and met a little boy who just looked at him. I just looked without being shocked, as it usually happened with children in a similar situation before the operation.
By now, the person has completely restored the ability to breathe freely, smell and eat in the same manner as he did with his previous face. Sandness enjoys life and is now completely free to be in the crowd.
Volgograd, October 22. A 24-year-old Volgograd resident, wishing to please the girls, played Russian roulette and as a result, with a gunshot wound to his chin, ended up in a hospital bed.
As told in the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Volgograd region, on the eve of a resident of the Voroshilovsky district met two girls. The young ladies offered to continue their communication in the apartment on the street. Turkmen. Taking alcohol and a snack, the youth arranged a feast. The guy really liked his interlocutors and, after drinking a lot, he decided to show off his weapon in front of them - a traumatic pistol. But the pretty drunk gentleman, without checking the pistol magazine, considered him unloaded. He invited his companions to play Russian roulette. The girls refused, but the "hero" did not give up. Holding the gun to his chin, the guy shot himself several times. The young man was taken to hospital with a gunshot wound.
The police found out that the traumatic pistol was legally registered in the name of the victim. At the moment, a check is being carried out, and the license for the weapon was withdrawn from the would-be shooter.
In 2006, at the age of 21, Andy Sandness attempted suicide. The shot to the chin destroyed most of his face, but the young man survived. As a result, he was left without a jaw, nose and teeth.
In 2012, doctors at the clinic offered Andy to undergo face transplant surgery. He agreed and preparations began:
In January 2016, Sandness received a donor. Another 21-year-old man shot himself in the head. After some hesitation, his pregnant wife agreed to the face transplant. She wanted the deceased in the future to become an example for her son, whom she never saw.
An operation was performed in June. Within one day, the team received all the necessary bones, muscles and skin from a donor. The rest of the time was taken by restoring Andy's face. Within 32 hours, doctors transplanted his nose, cheeks, mouth, teeth, lips, jaw and chin. The whole process took 56 hours. 60 employees took part in the operation.
For three weeks after the operation, Sandness did not see his new face. Only three months later, he realized that he finally looked like a normal person when he was riding in an elevator with a boy and he was not horrified by his appearance, as it happened before.
Loading ...