Face Transplants: Part I

Richard Norris was just a normal 22-year-old in 1997, a young man from rural southwest Virginia who liked fly fishing and the outdoors. But leaving his parent’s home one day, heading out to meet up with friends, something askew caught his eye. He noticed that the shotgun in the family gun cabinet was leaning awkwardly against the glass door. An avid deer hunter, Norris went to safely secure the firearm, but as he unlocked the cabinet, the Remington 12-gauge shifted, and a single shell exploded through the barrel, striking him in the face.

Two weeks later, awakening from a medically induced coma, he opened his eyes. The rest of his face was gone. A blob of scar tissue surrounded what was left of his mouth. His lips, teeth, jaws, nose, and part of his tongue were no more.

The University of Maryland performed the most extensive full face transplant completed to date, including both jaws, teeth, and tongue. The 36-hour operation occurred on March 19-20, 2012 at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center and involved a multi-disciplinary team of faculty physicians from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and a team of over 150 nurses and professional staff.

The face transplant was part of a 72-hour marathon of transplant activity at one of the busiest transplant centers in the world. The family of one anonymous donor generously donated his face and also saved five other lives through the heroic gift of organ donation. Four of these transplants took place over the course of two days at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

The face transplant team was led by Eduardo D. Rodriguez, M.D., D.D.S., associate professor of surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and chief of plastic, reconstructive and maxillofacial surgery at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Dr. Rodriguez is board-certified in plastic and reconstructive surgery as well as in oral and maxillofacial surgery. This marks the first time in the world that a full face transplant was performed by a team of plastic and reconstructive surgeons with specialized training and expertise in craniofacial surgery and reconstructive microsurgery.