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On January 6th, Cameron Underwood was evicted from NYU Langone Health's operating room at the end of a 25-hour operation to replace his damaged lower part with skin, tissue, bones and the teeth of a donor.
Just 11 months later, Underwood, 26, has healed remarkably and is doing very well. Like all transplant patients, he will have to continue taking anti-rejection medication all his life, but his team of medical specialists is encouraged by the acceptance of his new face by his body.
"We are delighted that Cameron is responding so well to the transplant," said Dr. Bruce Gelb, MD, one of the hospital's transplant surgeons, in a statement. "Our team has developed an innovative and novel immunosuppression protocol and protocol that, in our opinion, delivers the best results for our patients because the risk of rejection and toxicity is greatly minimized.
The vast face injury suffered by Underwood is the result of a self-inflicted shot that occurred in June 2016. Shortly after, the native of Yuba, California, undergoes a series of reconstructive surgeries. Yet, despite all the efforts of plastic surgeons, he faces lower without a nose, most of the lower jaw and all but one tooth.
The Underwood process was accepted by the New York University Facial Graft Program – led by Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez – and was added to the waiting list of organ donations in New York. July 2017. Another stroke of luck was obtained: a donor face found just six months after Underwood joined the waiting list. Many recipients wait years to find a suitable partner.
The new face was offered by William Fisher, a 23-year-old man living in Manhattan and a student at Johns Hopkins University. According to the press release, he has been registered as an organ donor since his teenage years. After Fisher's mother agreed to the transplant, her lower face was transported to Langone and Underwood and her family went to the east coast – in the face of the imminent "bomb blast" snowstorm. – with the help of air ambulance services.
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