Dallas Wiens

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Dallas Wiens
Born (1985-05-06) May 6, 1985 (age 36)
Fort Worth, Texas
OccupationConstruction Worker
Known forFirst full face transplant in the US
Spouse(s)Jamie Wiens
(m. 2013)
Children1

Dallas Wiens (born May 6, 1985) is a United States recipient of a full face transplant, performed at the Brigham and Women's Hospital during the week of March 14, 2011.[1] It was the first such operation in United States and the third[2] in the world.[3]

Facial disfigurement[]

Wiens was burned by a high voltage wire on November 13, 2008, when he was painting Ridglea Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.[4] He was standing inside the cherry picker when his forehead made contact with a high-voltage wire.[5][6] Transported by helicopter to Parkland Memorial Hospital, surgeons spent 36 hours over two days working to save Wiens’ life. They took off the burned skin, leaving him with half a chin and a fraction of his scalp. Then they used muscle flaps from his back to cover up his face and allow the ability to eat and speak. The reconstruction left him without his eyes, nose and lips.

Recovery[]

Wiens was left permanently blind and without lips, a nose or eyebrows.[7] Doctors told the family that Wiens likely would be paralyzed from the neck down and would never speak or produce enough saliva to eat solid food. They put him in a medically induced coma for three months. After awakening, he made unprecedented progress and left the hospital in spring 2009. In May 2010 he started walking.

In March 2011, a transplant team of more than 30 doctors, including eight surgeons and doctors and nurses from multiple disciplines, led by Bohdan Pomahač, performed a full face transplant at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. It took 15 hours. Wiens' sight could not be recovered (with the transplanted eyeballs later being removed and replaced by glass eyes) but he has been able to talk on the phone and has regained his sense of smell.[8] The operation was paid for with the help of the US Department of Defense, which hopes to gain knowledge from the procedure to help soldiers suffering from facial injuries.[7][9]

Wiens has undergone about two dozen operations since the accident in 2008.[10] He will need more surgery in the future.

Public appearance[]

On May 9, 2011, Wiens made his first public appearance after the surgery, wearing dark sunglasses. He said that his young daughter told him "Daddy, you're so handsome" when she saw him after the operation.[1] He also said of his new face, "It feels as if it has become my own."[3]

Personal life[]

On March 30, 2013, Wiens married fellow Parkland Hospital burn patient Jamie Nash of Garland, Texas, whom he met at a burn survivors support group. They married at the same church where Wiens had been burned less than four-and-a-half years earlier. Nash had received burns to her legs, back, and hands from a 2010 car accident in Ennis, Texas.[11]

He has a daughter from a previous relationship.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Contreras, Russell (2011-05-09). "Full face transplant patient makes 1st appearance". USA Today. Retrieved 2011-05-10.
  2. ^ "Miracle Transplant: Wearing the Face of a Dead Man
  3. ^ a b MacAskill, Ewen (2011-05-09). "US man Dallas Wiens shows result of America's first full face transplant". The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-05-11.
  4. ^ Fisher, Janon (2011-04-22). "A face transplant recipient gets restraining order against U.K. company". Adweek. Retrieved 2011-05-10.
  5. ^ Aasen, Eric (2011-05-09). "Full-face transplant recipient discusses his life-changing surgery". Retrieved 2011-05-11.
  6. ^ Khatchadourian, Raffi (2012-02-13). "Transfiguration: How Dallas Wiens Found a New Face". The New Yorker.
  7. ^ a b Marchione, Marilynn; Russell Contreras. "Texas man gets first full face transplant in US". Retrieved 2011-05-11.
  8. ^ "Boston hospital performs full face transplant". USA Today. 2011-03-21. Retrieved 2011-05-10.
  9. ^ Marchione, Marilynn; Contreras, Russell (AP) (2011-03-21). "Full-face transplant a first in U.S.; military helps pay for operation". Fayetteville Observer. Archived from the original on 2012-01-20.
  10. ^ "Face transplant: Dallas Wiens hails regained smell". BBC News. 2011-05-09. Retrieved 2011-05-11.
  11. ^ Tziperman Lotan, Gal (2013-03-30). "First full face transplant recipient married in Texas". Boston Globe.

External links[]

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