The First Male Face Transplant Recipient

James Maki before the face transplant.

James Maki, a 59 year old who owns a quite disturbing face - he lost his nose, upper lip, cheeks and the roof of his mouth as a result of the horrific subway accident in 2005. After years of living in isolation, he has seen light of living a normal life again after hearing about face transplant through Dr Bohdan Pomahac.

April 9, Mr. Maki underwent 17 hours of surgery after his doctors found a perfect match for him, Joseph Helfgot, who died after a heart transplant. Both are of the same age and with the same skin tone. After that long grueling hours, the operation was a success.

The donor

The new face- "I can't believe you made me look so close to what I used to look like."

Read More...

Born Twice?

Macie McCartney is a miracle baby - doctors saved her life, and along the way she was born twice.

If there is such term as prenatal repair, i think the case of Macie Hope MacCartney is the perfect example. She was born twice: at 6 months, she was removed from her mother's womb and returned after her tumor was successfully taken off.

At 6 months, close to being a fully developed baby, Doctors found out that she has a large tumor. This was discovered when her mother, Keri MacCartney, had gone for a routine ultrasound just to know the gender of the baby. However, what supposed to be an exciting moment became a frightening experience. The ultrasound revealed a massive tumor on the unborn baby. The tumor extends from her tailbone and was stealing the blood that she needed to live. According to doctors, if this condition is left untreated, it will surely kill the little girl before she will be born.

The team of surgeons, led by Dr. Kass, immediately decided to take the nerve racking operation of removing the baby to her mom's womb, remove the tumor, and return her again after all is done. During the operation, Keri was put into anesthesia, much deeper than usual so that her uterus would relax. Surgeons then exposed the uterus, cut where they would not damage the placenta, pulled most of the baby out and removed the tumor. They then had to ensure Keri's womb would hold amniotic fluid to keep the baby alive.Ten weeks later, May 3, 2008, Macie was born.

Read More...