A talented group of surgeons, doctors and various medical professionals at Cleveland Clinic have completed the first-ever “80 percent facial transplant” on a female patient that was suffering from the residual effects of serious trauma.
No personal information about the patient will be released, but Wall Street Journal reports that the procedure was one of the “most complex face transplants in the world.” Many functional and structural components of the were restored. Surgeons precisely integrated facial structures like the
lower eyelids and nose, while also restoring different complex tissues like skin, nerves and arteries.
Team leader Maria Siemionow has spent a great part of her career researching and developing such procedures. She was able to lead a group of professionals from a variety of disciplines, including psychology, anesthesia, opthamology, dentistry and others. A cooperative approach of this magnitude is the only way to succeed in such a complex surgical procedure.
Dr. Siemionow has a profound connection between her work and her motivation to help injured patients.
She states,”patients with facial disfigurement have very difficult challenges in society. We hope that one day we may be able to help the tens of thousands of patients who are quietly suffering.”
Dr. Jonov is a cosmetic surgeon who specializes in plastic surgeries of the face, breast, and body at Seattle Plastic Surgery.
