80% of the body was burned in an accident: today is the first case of face and hand transplantation in the world | the Chronicle

Advances in medicine and, in this case, cosmetic surgery, have once again marked a milestone that will bring hope to thousands of patients.

Just over two and a half years after being in a car accident that burned 80% of his body, JoeDiMeo He became the first person to have a successful face and hand transplant.

The operation to which he had to undergo was not easy and involved risks, because if there were previously about fifty face transplants in the world and a hundred hand transplants, they had never been performed. successfully at the same time.

In July 2018, DiMeo was involved in a car accident while falling asleep at the wheel, causing his vehicle to overturn and set his vehicle on fire.

After being rescued by a man who pulled him out of his burning car, the victim was taken to hospital, where she remained hospitalized for almost three months and underwent about 20 reconstructive surgeries.

In the aftermath of the terrible accident, doctors had to amputate his fingers due to severe burns, he had no lips, and his eyelids remained fully fused.

However, despite his physical changes, the young man maintained a positive attitude that would allow him to test the possibility of performing an operation with its risks, but which could be historic.

“I liked his attitude, he’s a really down to earth guy. When I finished talking to him that day, I was like, ‘I have to do this.’ “, the doctor told People magazine Eduardo Rodriguez, a world-renowned expert in reconstructive plastic surgery at NYU Langone Hospital in New York City, who rose to the challenge of surgery.

“When we talked about the possibility of doing both hands and the face, I had to let him know that it had been tried twice around the world and both had failed, in fact one of those patients died” , Rodríguez pointed out, who pointed out that “Despite knowing the risks, I had complete confidence” among doctors.

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and with the possibility of becoming seriously ill by contracting it, the donor was secured for DiMeo with whom the surgery was performed.

The operation only lasted 23 hours, once “historically” fast, according to Rodríguez, whose previous face transplants took 24 to 25 hours.

DiMeo woke up a few days later and quickly began rehab to regain strength in his hands, which feels “really grateful.”

“I can smell my dog’s fur, or when he licks my palm, and that makes me happy. These are the little things you do every day, and you don’t know they’re gone until you lose them., he stressed.