Disfigured woman gets a new face
Patient says ‘merci’ after looking at her reflection
A woman who received a partial face transplant is shown here being taken from the operating room.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10294263/
Updated: 7:22 p.m. ET Dec. 2, 2005
LYON, France - As she held the mirror up to her new face, the woman looked at her reflection. She paused for a moment. Unable to speak because of the breathing tube in her throat, she wrote a note, “Merci.” Thank you.
Then, she cried. Dr. Sylvie Testelin, one of her surgeons, cried too.
The results of the daring nose, lips and chin transplant — the first ever attempted — were beyond what the doctors had hoped for. The new face bore an uncanny resemblance to her former face, one doctor said.