On January 6th , Cameron Underwood was wheeled out of the operating room at NYU Langone Health at the end of a 25 - hour surgery to exchange his damaged depressed face with the hide , tissue , bone , and tooth of a presenter .
Now , just 11 months later on , 26 - year - old Underwood has healed remarkably and is in first-class wellness . Like all graft patients , he will need to persist onanti - rejection medicationfor the rest of his life , but his squad of specialist doctors are encouraged by his body ’s acceptance of the new face thus far .
“ We are thrilled that Cameron is responding so well to the transplantation , ” Dr Bruce Gelb , MD , one of the hospital ’s transplant surgeons , said in astatement . “ Our team has established a successful , novel , patient - donor matching protocol and immune suppression regimen that we believe put up the best termination for our patients because the risk of rejection and perniciousness is greatly minimized . ”
Underwood ’s extensive facial injury was the result of a ego - inflicted gunshot that occurred in June 2016 . Soon after , the Yuba , California , native underwent a serial of reconstructive operating room , yet despite the best endeavour of credit card surgeons , he was left with a misshapen lower look that miss a olfactory organ , most of the abject jaw , and all but one tooth .
Clearing the blessing process in record sentence , Underwood ’s case was accepted by the NYU font transplantation programme – led by Dr Eduardo Rodriguez – and added to the nationwide organ donation waitlist in July 2017 . In another chance event of expedient good fortune , a matching donor face was found a simple six month after Underwood joined the waitlist . Many recipients wait age for a desirable match .
The new font was donate from William Fisher , a 23 - year - honest-to-god who was live in Manhattan and studying at Johns Hopkins University . He has been registered as an electronic organ donor since his teenage years , accord to the press handout . After Fisher ’s mother founder her consent for the transplant , Fisher ’s lower side was transport to Langone and Underwood and his sept trek to the East Coast – in the face of the oncoming " bomb calorimeter cyclone " blizzard – with the assistance of air ambulance services .
On the medical team ’s end , Dr Gelb and his fellow rushed into operation planning , aid by in advance technology including a three - dimensional computing machine modeled surgery run - through and 3D - printed customise cutting guides . During the complex procedure , the team relied on intraoperative CAT scans and assisted tool pilotage systems to achieve idealistic alignment between the patient role and donor ’s bones and correct placement of implanted home plate and anchoring screw .
In sum , Underwood receive Fisher ’s upper and lower jaw bones , including his 32 teeth , roof of the mouth ( cap of the mouth ) , floor of the mouth , lower eyelids , cheeks , olfactory organ , and nasal passage segment . Underwood ’s own natural language stay on , but underwent reconstructive memory .
Several weeks of in - hospital recovery followed , but Underwood surprised his care squad by qualifying for discharge to a nearby flat week forrader of schedule , on February 16 . After more than a month of extra strong-arm and occupational renewal and delivery therapy , Underwood and his kinfolk eventually returned home to Yuba on March 29 .
Currently , he travels to New York once a calendar month for follow - up with his MD .
“ Will and his family made an incredible sacrifice to give back to me what had been recede , ” he stated . “ I will never draw a blank that . I ’m also eternally thankful to Dr. Rodriguez and his human face transplant team . My family and I could not have made this journey without them . We hope my experience urge on others who have terrible facial injury to have promise , as I was inspired by others who amount before me . The journeying has n’t been light , but it ’s been well worth it . ”
