First ever Face Transplant in the US funded by the D.O.D

Thought this was interesting.

A 25 yr old construction worker, who lost his face after it was severely burned by a high voltage line, received the first full face transplant in the US. The donor's family preferred to remain anonymous. And even more intriguing, the operation was supported (er, paid for) by the Dept of Defense...."to be able to provide better care for our troops who are injured in combat..."

The operation was funded under a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense as part of the military’s efforts to expand research in innovative medical procedures.

After that procedure was successfully completed, the Defense Department awarded a $3.4 million grant to the hospital in December 2009 to fund five face transplants, including Wiens’s, according to Col. Janet Harris, director of the Clinical and Rehabilitative Medicine Research Program for the Army Medical Research and Materiel Command.

“Our interest is in research that is going to further us being able to provide better care for our troops injured in combat,” she said.

Interesting. So face transplants during combat huh....

Wasn't there a movie about something like this once....
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That is a very interesting find. Thank you.

This is something worth keeping an open ear on.

Where were the other previous facial transplants done, anyone remember? I am too lazy to look it up, but was not those performed in the US too, or was it Great Britain?
And yes, those were full and complete Face Transplants- not partial.

It's been done.

It was done in Spain last year.
www.bbc.co.uk...

reply to post by PhotonEffect


Back in 2009, there were a few of these.
One, in particular, happened to a woman in my neck of the woods.
Ohio woman shows off US face transplant
Another related story: Face transplant


As for the DoD granting the money, well thats news to me.

Just a fun-fact for you: The doctor's name is "Dr. Bohdan Pomahac", which in my language (Slavic/Slovak) can be translated to - First name = God-given Last name = One who helps. Full name = God-given helper. Very interesting name for a doctor. His parents chose quite the name for him, and he chose an appropriate profession to go with it.

Science is truly amazing. I can't wait to see what they'll be able to accomplish in the next couple of decades.