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Subscribe to RSSDoctors at University of Maryland perform their first full-face transplant on gunshot victim. WRC's Erika Gonzalez reports.
University of Maryland Medical Center
Patient Richard Lee Norris after his face transplant.
For the past 15 years Richard Lee Norris has lived as a recluse, his face covered by a mask after being shattered in a gun accident. By day he hid from the public, shopping only at night to avoid the curious stares of children and adults.
In a groundbreaking, 36-hour surgery that began in the early morning of March 19, a team of surgeons from the University of Maryland gave 37-year-old Norris a new visage: a transplant that included not just the facial tissue from the hairline to the neck, but also the upper and lower jaws, teeth and a portion of tongue. Doctors called it the most extensive full face transplant yet completed.
A week later, Norris is further along than his doctors had ever hoped. Just three days after the surgery he asked for a mirror to see his new face. He is now able to move his jaws and open and close his mouth.
Norris has even started to shave and brush his teeth again, said the leader of the surgical team, Dr. Edwardo D. Rodriguez, chief of plastic, reconstructive and maxillofacial surgery at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
University of Maryland Medical Center
Richard Lee Norris before his face transplant. Due to a gunshot accident, Norris lost his lips and nose and had limited movement of his mouth.
“This individual has not lived for the past 15 years as you and I know it,” Rodriguez said. “He’s been living behind a mask. This is clearly a transforming event.”
Norris came to the University of Maryland five years ago looking for help. Doctors wouldn't discuss details, but said that Norris' face had been ravaged by a gunshot. The 12 plastic surgeries helped, but not enough. Norris still lived behind a mask, hiding from the rest of humanity. Rodriguez realized that the only way to give Norris back his life was a full face transplant.
When the team was ready to embark on its first face transplant they picked Norris as the patient who most needed help. The hope was to give him back a face that would be as close to normal as possible – right down to the teeth and the tip of the tongue.
“Richard always said he wanted to have teeth again,” Rodriguez said, pointing to a photo showing the puffy faced, but normal looking, Norris six days after the procedure.
Norris may also benefit from more than a decade of research on immunosuppressing drugs. University of Maryland scientists discovered that by transplanting the jaw as well as the face, they would need lower levels of the medications to keep the body from rejecting the new tissue and bone, said Dr. Steven Bartlett, chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
University of Maryland Medical Center
Norris in his prom picture.
Animal research showed that marrow from the jawbone could make all the difference.
“We realized that there was a massive amount of bone marrow in the jawbone that was vascularized with its own unique blood supply,” Bartlett said. “In that scenario you required much lower than expected long term immunosuppression.
The surgery itself took place 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.
Ultimately, Norris’s appearance may seem like a combination of both his and his donor’s faces since his new tissue will drape over his cheekbones and his donor’s jawbones.
Including Norris, there have been 23 face transplant procedures around the world since the first surgery was performed seven years ago in France on a woman who had been mauled by her dog. In the U.S., 25-year-old Dallas Wiens was the first person to receive a full-face transplant.
While Norris was getting his face transplant five other patients were receiving organs from the same donor. “This patient was able to donate five organs to five other recipients,” said Charles Alexander of the Living Legacy Foundation of Maryland.
As for Norris, Alexander said, “it gives this man back more than aesthetics. It gives him back his life.”
Related stories:
19-year-old transplant patient sees new face for the first time
Leave a Comment:
Wishing Mr. Norris the best. What an amazing change for him.
May God bless those surgeons and the skills they possess. What marvelous progress medical science has made to be able to afford Richard Norris this gift and a special 'thank-you' to the donor.
Indeed Leiya23.... let us give thanks to the family of the man from whose body these transplants were given. Let us hope they indeed find peace as well.
Mr. Norris you look fantastic.
Notice in the "before" photo that he had a tracheotomy tube in his throat to enable him to breathe. That appears to be gone in the "after" photo. Getting rid of that hole in his throat is probably almost as thrilling to him as having the new face.
Incredible and wonderful.
Wow! I have been following the progression of face transplants since that first one back in ~2005 and I cannot believe what progress has been made! Each surgery represents to opportunity to overcome past obstacles, such as the jaw bone marrow discussed in this article, and who knows where the future lies. Congratulations to the surgeons and Mr. Norris, I hope you no longer hide. Also, thank you to that donor who made all these surgery's possible, what an incredible gift.
God bless the donor and his family for saving and making such an impact on other people's lives. I hope everyone reading this has their donor card filled out.
Awesome!
It's really wonderful that this man is able to maybe get his life back! Thank the surgeons, donor and the studies that made this possible, Not God! Should he thank God for his pain and suffering over the years? Also, they really don't say how this happened, in this article.
dude, you look great!!!!
You just had to rain on the party didnt you Not N my house ? You have nothing positive to say, or you make absurd statements because your lacking sense of all of this. Nothing wrong with giving praise ot god for surgeons and a well done surgery.
Ken, you wrote, "God made this man go through this experience for a reason." Do you really think god shot this poor man ? What a really warped view ! And, Ken, do you think that god approves when you call someone a " . . .kooky bastard." ? If so, I'd say you have an interesting god.
"Get off the God bashing you kooky bastard." Hey, Ken Petersen, you are the kooky bastard. What's wrong, you overzealous religious nuts don't have control anymore?
Dan:
Nothing personal, but I wandered how long I would scroll down before coming to a ridiculous (I'm being charitable here) post by some narrow minded person about blaming a gun for the circumstances and twisting this story into more political nonsense on gun laws. You may say you're glad for Mr. Norris but you seem more preoccupied with making someone responsible for what is plainly described as an accident. As for the cost who why should it concern you unless you had to foot the bill. I would gladly contribute if given the opportunity.
I say let this poor man enjoy his precious gift without bringing up a bunch of grief, he needs healing not selfish negativity from the peanut gallery.
God bless you Mr. Norris, I wish you well!
u r so blessed,GOD speed your healing
I am just so amazed with the progress of these face transplants. Has anyone seen how Mr. Norris is doing lately. To survive a disfisfiguring accident and have the strength to move on is also amazing. I think it is great that technology has progress so much in order to help people regain their lives.
god bless him. i just wish he would of goten it sooner but better late than never!
he was a good looking kid and now he's even better...people should see this so that they will take firearm safety very serious...
Wow. Normally, these face transplants look like a bad Halloween mask (like Charla Nash, the chimp attack victim), but this one is the first one I've seen that actually pretty much looks like the guy's original face. And it doesn't even look all that baggy. I've seen people with bad hangovers who look worse than that.
Good for the doctors; they're really getting good at these things.
I was thinking the same thing. It looks remarkably similar to the prom picture, right down to the eyebrows. I am really happy for him.
Seriously, I'm absolutely blown away. I saw the photo on the front page and not for one moment did I suspect that the man's face wasn't originally his.
I also applaud the doctors for their modesty. They have to be the first ones to have performed a face transplant to not claim to be the first to perform a face transplant. All of the previous ones have described their accomplishment (whose merit no one denies) as being "the first * face transplant," replacing the asterisk with some combination of the words "successful," "non-experimental," or "full." They should just embrace the fact that the procedure is getting progressively better as we go on (and at an impressive pace).
Wow - Speechless - incredible. Also shows us we truly do have individual souls - no matter what our outward appearance, the essence of our very being is right there behind the confines of our skin - our skeletal structure.
Wonderful, very human, medical staff. Best of luck to Mr. Norris - heartfelt hope you truly enjoy your daily wanderings in the sun - resting peacefully at night.
What amazed me the most about this particular transplant is that it was performed only 8 days ago, yet the man looks more normal than some people walking the streets who have never experienced any trauma to their faces. There is virtually no swelling after such a short recovery period. It's amazing, and a bit scary, what can be done through medicine nowadays, and gives hope for treatments and cures for all injuries and diseases.
This medical advancement is truly is a miracle.
Hopefully, Mr. Norris now will be able to enjoy a full and productive life again.
People can take the "gift of freedom" for granted.
Praise be to god, and thank you to his great surgeons.
Except for the eye area, I would have just thought he had some kind of head injury. He could go out in sunglasses and nobody would suspect a thing.
Wow, Mr. Norris, your new face is absolutely gorgeous. Very handsome and good-looking. Soooo handsome. The best to you.
I am so happy for you what a wonderful blessing this is. I wish you a happy new life...... Congrats :o)
OMG...I hope no one tells Charla Nash what some of these posts say...That poor woman has gone thru hell and now that she's looking damn near normal, someone says her surgery looks like a bad halloween mask?? Why would anyone want to devistate someone like that?? Both of these victims are going thru very painful surgeries to gain some of their life back...to see this kind of post is very sad...
Best of luck to you Richard. You doctors are amazing! I needed a feel good story today.
@ stonepipe am with you.....we ALL NEED feel good stories EVERYDAY!
Thanks PJ and all "likes" If you need a good song to make you feel better about the human race try Kris Kristofferson's "Here Comes That Rainbow Again" Don't make em like that anymore.
Stonepipe
Thank you for your words and Thanks for sharing that song. adding to my favorites!
Wow, poor guy! I'm glad they could help him, and I hope the surgery is ultimately a success.
Stunning and amazing! WOW!
Is he still in the NRA??
William of Rites - Thanks for pissing all over a perfectly good story!
Mr. Norris - Best of luck and a hopeful and bright future! Enjoy!
Are you still a member of the human race?
There's always one.
TVAR - you are right about that. However, who wants to tempt fate like William did? Karma might have something worse in mind for him. Then we can all sit back and see what kinds of funny comments he makes when the shoe is on the other foot.
that was funny*
You POS, can't you just be happy for the guy without spewing political diahrea out your pie hole?
If that's an attempt at humor---you failed. Badly.
Wow. Science is truly amazing. Good for him.
Technology in Face Off is now reality, fascinating isn't it.
What a wonderful thing for this man. The work they did looks remarkable.
I wonder if someone could possible get the child called WilliamOfRites off the comment listing, as he can't seem to say anything that is of value or benefit.
I've seen a lot worse.
Yeah, what a POS excuse for humanity.
You can choose to ignore them or help to collapse their posts. To outright censor or remove them is counterproductive to a basic right we all have.
If I see a person posting things I deem inappropriate, I simply scroll by them. I don't feed them.
It is far easier to ignore them than it is to talk about them.
I agree 100% Coreysan - this poor excuse for a human being....what a POS! What a great story and I wish this man all the happiness in the world. Good luck Mr. Norris and happy trails.................
I have to agree w/ Sam----I've seen far worse commentary, not that that should give Wm there a free pass.
And I have to give you, NYMike, your point about outright censorship not being appropriate is correct. But I also think that simply passing them by, without calling them out on their gross, vulgar, whatever you want to call it behavior online, doesn't help much, either. Of course it is your prerogative to simply bypass such ugliness & move along in your reading, but I think using the "inflammatory" or "no value" option is an easy way to convey your opinion about the inappropriateness of their remarks, much like simply informing someone in a real-life situation that you find their gross/racist/whatever remarks stupid & offensive. But I do find a lot of reply posts to the offensive entries almost as bad as the offensive entry itself, w/ cussing & name-calling being inappropriate in & of themselves.
He looks so great! Not much like his old face, but handsome nonetheless. I wish the article would have added the details of the acident on how it happened. Not for being nosey purpses, but as an opportunity to learn from past mistakes. As it is- I think it is apparent gun safety should always be of paramount importance. Looks just great- I hope he can finally get his life back!
I did some searching and most of the articles are worded the same and officials aren't releasing much other than it was a gun accident.
The photos I saw though, showed that he no longer needs a tube in his neck to breathe.
Wow... just... wow...
Not much more to say than incredible!
I just don't know what to feel about these face transplants. To live life with someone else's face.
Would you know what to feel, living life with no face at all?
I kind of feel the same as you, but I guess the alternative of having no face or being disfigured may change our out look somewhat!
Would you say the same for organ transplant, to know you are living with someone esle's orgran?
Be thankful it's a personal choice you've never been forced to make.
I hear you, Jesse. I'm not an organ donor because I'm very uncomfortable with the whole thing. My body, my choice; your body, your choice. It's a personal decision.
Being an organ donor, it didn't really occur to me that the donation could go to this extreme. Certainly, they can have at any part of me that would be useful to someone else. I have heard that there are a very small number of recipients who do feel for the donor but the vast majority are so thankful that they had the chance. The donating families are just as jubilant for the occasion, despite the sorrow for the one they lost.
@Hotticket - you are right it is a personal choice but even though you may not want to live with another person's organ in your body, someone who needs one may not feel the same way you do and would really like to have that heart, liver, kidney, eye, or face, that you no longer need. It is not likely that you will need it any longer so why not help someone else??
The donation can go "extreme", but if I ended up dying and my face was able to help someone leave their house with a confidence they haven't had in years, then I'm ok with it. I'm sure this person wasn't choosing which face he got - he probably was so thankful for getting one. But like you said, it IS a personal choice and you have that option to not participate. Totally understandable!
It's not like his face still looks like that of the donor. His face took the shape of his skull, and the reconstructed jaws. He most likely looks more like his old self than anybody else.
That is pretty awesome... Good for you, man! Amazing advancement in science...
Only a Norris could stare down a gun and survive. Chuck is proud.
Protip: Chuck Norris jokes stopped being funny sometime around 2008. Just an FYI.
I thought chuck norris jokes went out in the 80s already. my bad.
only chuck norris laughs at chuck norris jokes
Incredible. The before and after pictures are stunning. I can't believe how well this surgery worked.
Yeah , and he gains a whole lot more confidence and a whole lot more life ... great story
Amazing. From the picture it looks like this guy just had a facelift or something, not a whole facial transplant. Science is truly awesome.
Remember, his face is probably still puffy and swollen, especially the eye sockets, as the blood starts circulating again.
I saw my grandmother hours after an eye transplant and no one had prepared me for half her face looking like a dead fish eye at the market. Saw her two weeks later and couldn't even tell which eye had been transplanted! So over the next few months, he's going to look even better!
So happy for him.
Wow! Best of luck. Enjoy your new life.
Medical technology has come a long way. Good for you Mr. Norris. Thank you to all of the medical staff involved in this life transforming procedure. Take care and God Bless.
don't forget the enormous amount of research that led to this... the next time that someone says some research grant is a waste of money, remember that the end result is this: helping real people.
Indeed. Congrats to Richard, and to the amazing surgeons who performed this operation!
gotta love that 2d amendment!
If you don't like it, you can blow your face off too.
Just another POS SOB like William of Rights with no compassion whatsoever for his fellow man. FU Pat Huntington
Stupid attempt at "humor".
Wow, he looks great, and I am sure it's just going to get better as the swelling goes down and the scars start to heal up. I'm sure he's ecstatic, knowing that he will no longer have to hide from people or fear ridicule. Amazing job, his team of surgeons is to be commended.
what happened to your picture H-in-H
I'm in awe at how fantastic his lips and nose look now. Put a hat on his head and you'd be none the wiser of his procedure.
I think shes Smitten!!!!
Wow! What a difference!
While folks out there might be worried about thinning hair, scars, acne, and/or all of the aforementoned this guy looks great! And what a brave man to share his challenge.
<---Taking pause to count my blessings.
Your perspective gives perspective...
Makes me think about my wrinkles, freckles, and grey hair with a new appreciation!
Thanks for that post, lady d. You caused me to count mine, as well.
Best of luck, Mr. Norris. I'm happy for you.