For fifteen years, Richard Norris had a
face too hideous to show. A shotgun
accident when he was 22 blew off his
nose, cheekbones, lips, tongue, teeth,
jaw and chin. He was trying to move the gun from
leaning against a cabinet and it accidentally went off,
according to Mirror UK. Miraculously, Richard survived,
but was left horrifically disfigured.
But thanks to one of the most complex facial transplant
surgeries ever performed, his life has changed forever. In
fact, Richard now has the kind of swarthy, youthful good
looks of a film star.
He gets thousands of fan letters every year and is on the
cover of this month’s GQ magazine. Apart from his
brown eyes, almost every part of Richard’s face, even his
tongue, belonged to someone else. It was taken from a
recently deceased 21-year-old and attached to his scalp
during pioneering surgery by Eduardo Rodriguez, a
Baltimore reconstructive facial surgeon in March 2012.
Despite the success, Richard, now 39, has to take pills
every day and be extremely cautious to maintain his
health. He cannot get sunburn, a cold drink, alcohol or
risk falling. Even a cut could trigger rejection of his face.
He was chosen for the face transplant after more than a
dozen operations which attempted to give him
functional use of his mouth. Though, Richard managed
to keep his eyesight, doctors could not repair his lips,
nose or the front of his tongue.
The day-and-a-half operation involved more than 150
doctors, nurses and staff at the University of Maryland
Medical Centre. When he saw his new look in the mirror
for the first time, Richard was understandably overjoyed.
Experts gave him a new tongue for proper speech, eating
and chewing and normally aligned teeth. They also
connected his nerves to allow him to smile. Dr.
Rodriguez, who led the transplant, says: “It’s a surreal
experience to look at him.
“Before people used to stare at Richard because he wore
a mask and they wanted to see the deformity. Now they
have another reason to stare at him and it’s really
amazing,” he said.
After years of going out of his way to avoid people,
Richard is now surprisingly comfortable socialising,
especially with staff from the hospital.
But while his tranformation has been described as
amazing, it will take time for him to recover fully.
Medical staff are currently teaching him who has not
eaten or spoken properly for 15 years, how to use his
fully functional face. He will also have more minor
surgery for the soft tissue of his face – such as his
eyelids.
http://www.medicalworldnigeria.com/2014/08/american-who-had-entire-face-transplant-following-horrific-shotgun-accident-becomes-a-model

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Wow! This is wonderful, lucky him.

Wow wow wow

Speechless

Waoh! Bekee bu agbara! He's now very handsom. Lucky him

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