Connie Culp Gets a New Face

As the mom of a surgery resident I follow the stories on amazing surgeries. I'm glued to Grey's Anatomy and House each week. In fact Grey's Anatomy did a face transplant on the show not long ago.

This; however, is real life. Connie Culp a 46-year old woman from Unionport, Ohio had a face transplant. It seems that her husband, Thomas, shot her and is in prison until 2011. It seems like too short a sentience to me.

The gun Thomas held and used smashed her cheeks, nose, eyes, and the roof of her mouth. She could only breathe with the help of a tube placed in her windpipe. The only parts of her face left were her upper eyelids, forehead, lower lip, and chin. Can you image being a very attractive woman one day and the next being called monster. Truthfully I will admit to being vain and I give Connie lots of kudos for even venturing out of the house. You can see her before and after pictures at MSNBC

Dr. Risal Djohan, a plastic surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic wasn't sure he could put her back together. But he tried while Connie had 30 operations to her face. Parts of her ribs became her cheekbones and one of her leg bones was made into her upper jaw. Her thighs were the area used for skin grafts. Still after all these operations Connie couldn't smell, eat solid food, or breathe on her own.

A medical miracle took place with the help of a team of very talented surgeons in December. A 22-hour operation replaced 80% of Connie face using muscles, bone, nerves, skin, and blood vessels from an organ/skin donor.
By January Connie could eat and smell and smile. She is working on getting people like me to accept that burn victims and people who may look like "monsters" from a movie is my issue. She says, "When somebody has a disfigurement and don't look as pretty as you do, don't judge them, because you never know what happened to them," she said. "Don't judge people who don't look the same as you do. Because you never know. One day it might be all taken away."

For Mother's Day my daughter the doctor send me several gifts. One of them is a magnetic bumper sticker that says "Donate Life. I support organ and tissue donation. "She knew I had not signed up to be a donor. Although the "rule" really isn't in place in my religion - Reform Judaism - some still do believe that altering the body is not the right thing to do i.e. no piercings, tattoos, etc. I have piercings though so it seems hypocritical and as soon as I got that magnet I headed over to the site and signed up. http://www.organdonor.gov/
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SOURCES

Huffington Post

MSNBC