Historic Face Transplant
A fireman got his face, hair and ears again
More than just the face: A 41-year-old firefighter got a new face, hair and ears transplanted from someone else in over 26 hours of operation. The face transplant was a success!
Find out more about this complex masterpiece of the surgeon!
Burned during a fire fight
Patrick Hardinson was only 27 years old at the time of the accident in 2001. He was working as a firefighter with the volunteer fire department in his home town in Mississippi, USA, when the accident occurred.
A house was on fire and Patrick Hardison was in the burning house to save a woman from the flames. But while he was in the house, it collapsed on top of him. And he was rescued from the inferno of flames with extremely severe burns.
His entire face was burned, including his ears, ear canals, eyelids and hair. In more than 70 operations one tried to give Patrick Hardinson relief, but it never completely succeeded.
Due to the lack of eyelids, he could never close his eyes properly and because of his missing face he was stared at everywhere. After all, it was his acquaintances who asked the New York specialists at NYU Langone Medical Center for help on his behalf.
The right donor
It took over a year to find a donor who matched the age, size, skin and hair color. Patrick Hardinson was already 41 years old, but the data of a 26 year old BMX athlete fit perfectly.
The young man was killed in a traffic accident. When the doctors determined that he was brain dead, the dead David Rodebaugh’s mother agreed to the transplant.
Operation in New York
In August 2015 the time had finally come. The right donor for Patrick Hardison was found, the hospital promised to cover the costs for surgery and rehab, and off we go.
Never before in the history of medicine has such a complex face transplant been successfully performed!
In more than 26 hours, starting on August 14, 2015, the team led by Dr. Eduardo D. Rodriguez at the Hansjörg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center placed David Rodebaugh’s complete face on the firefighter’s head.
In order to be able to close his eyes properly again, Patrick Hardinson got eyelids and the muscles that go with them. In addition, he received ears, ear canals and hair from the late BMX athlete David Rodebaugh.
Facial transplant success through good rehab
After the operation, it remained exciting to see whether the patient’s immune system would not reject the new face and whether the transplant was completely successful. After a few weeks it became clear: everything went according to plan, the operation was a success!
A total of almost 100 specialists were involved until Patrick Hardinson was dismissed. Because not only doctors and nurses, but also technicians in the background of the operation and a few specialized physiotherapists and trainers helped in the subsequent rehab.
Because Patrick Hardinson now had to learn to use his new muscles to have a living face and not just a rigid mask.
Average guy next door
Patrick Hardinson is overjoyed with his new face. He is not only happy about things that are natural for us, like closing his eyes, he is also happy not to be stared at in the street any more. Today, he says, he’s just an average guy.
He is infinitely grateful to the donor David Rodebaugh’s family for giving him a new life by giving him up for a transplant.
Patrick Hardinson is not the first person to have a complete face transplant, but it has never before been operated on in such a complex and comprehensive manner in a patient.
Incidentally, the first face transplant took place exactly 10 years earlier in France. A French woman had a part of someone else’s face transplanted after her own dogs bit out a large part of her original face.
