New Hampshire Woman Gets New Face For Second Time In 10 Years | HuffPost - 1 views
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has a new face.
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has a new face.
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The transplant from an anonymous donor took place at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital in July.
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whose face was disfigured in an attack by her ex-husband,
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More than 40 patients worldwide have received face transplants, including 16 in the United States. None of the American patients had lost their donor faces until Tarleton.
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She really got lucky.”
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rejected his donor face eight years after his first transplant underwent a second
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She really wanted to try one more time,” said Pomahac, who led the 20-hour, second surgery. A team of around 45 clinicians removed the failing transplant and then prepared sensory nerves and blood vessels in the neck for the surgical connection. The face was then transplanted and Tarleton will gain sensory and motor function in the coming months.
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“The pain I had is gone,” she said. “It’s a new chapter in my life. I’ve been waiting for almost a year. I’m really happy. It’s what I needed. I got a great match.”
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a much better tissue match.
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“When you look at most organ transplants, there is a shelf life,” Gastman said. “We are getting to the point where these face transplantations are hitting against the maximum number of years someone can have one in.”
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Tarleton was burned on over 80% of her body and blinded in 2007 when her estranged husband, Herbert Rodgers, beat her with a baseball bat and doused her body with lye because he thought she was seeing another man.
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The first transplant transformed Tarleton’s life.
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But by last year, the face was failing. She began experiencing scarring, tightness and pain because of a loss of blood flow to her face. Black patches appeared on her face. Her eyelids contracted and her lips began disappearing, making it difficult to eat. She was mostly housebound and resumed taking strong pain medications.
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She was added back on when the state allowed elective surgeries to resume.
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don’t get stared at so easily.”
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“It is strange. I am not going to lie,” she added. “I’ll have to get used to it. My sister will have to get used to it. It takes a while for my friends and family to get used to what I look like now.”