Spanish Face Transplant Patient Thanks Surgeons In Public
A Spanish man who has undergone one of the first face transplants has appeared in public to thank his donor and the surgeons who operated on him. Known only as ‘Rafael’ the Spaniard is the ninth person in the world to receive a partial transplant and wanted to personally thank the family of the man who allowed him to have a new face.
Since birth, Rafael has suffered from the congenital disease known as neurofibromatosis type 1, a genetic problem which causes abnormal growth of cells. Benign tumours had grown on two thirds of his face and Dr Gomez Cia said “there was no reconstructive alternative except for a tissue transplant from a dead donor.”
The surgery took over 30 hours and involved an extremely large team of world renowned reconstructive surgeons. In the surgery, the lower two-thirds of Rafael’s face were replaced with that of a donor. Following the operation, Rafael spent five weeks in intensive care and a week in a burns unit before finally moving to a regular hospital bed in March. In training for his surgery, the team of surgeons spent a year working on cadavers and using the latest 3D simulation software before an appropriate donor appeared.
Juan David Gonzalez Padilla, Director of Maxillofacial surgery at the hospital said; “He has recovered his sensitivity in the lips, the cheeks, he can distinguish cold and heat, and he’s even shaving, something which he wasn’t able to do before because of his illness.” Rafael is still not able to talk properly and his doctors expect he will not regain full control of his tongue for another three months as his face and muscles are still enflamed.
The operation began by removing the tissue, blood vessels and nerve endings from the donor; it was then attached to Rafael’s skull. His doctors maintain he will not end up with the face of the donor as the tissue adapts to the bone structure of the receptor.
Transplant work requires the use of radiology jobs and in the UK is a growing demand for nursing jobs shrewsbury.
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