First U.S. Face Transplant Patient Appears Before Cameras

First U.S. Face Transplant Patient Appears Before Cameras
Connie Culp, 46, Said She Is Grateful for the Ways the Surgery Changed Her Life
By DAN CHILDS
ABC News Medical Unit
May 5, 2009


The United States' first-ever face transplant patient today publicly thanked the doctors who performed her surgery after a devastating 2004 shooting incident left her disfigured and unable to eat or breathe on her own.


Connie Culp, 46, of Ohio, the country's first-ever face transplant patient underwent 23 hours of surgery five months ago. She appeared before cameras Tuesday during press conference at the Cleveland Clinic, where surgeons performed the procedure.
(Courtesy Cleveland Clinic)

"Well, I guess I'm the one you came to see today," 46-year-old Connie Culp of Ohio said today at a press conference at the Cleveland Clinic, where a team of surgeons performed the surgery five months ago. "While I know you all want to focus on me, I think it's more important you focus on the donor family that made it so I could have this Christmas present, I guess I should say."

The 23-hour surgery, which took place over two days in December 2008, garnered widespread media attention shortly after it was completed. The operation was the world's fourth foray into face transplantation surgery. Culp's identity was not released at the time of the surgery, but today she introduced herself to reporters by first name.

Currently, doctors are waiting to see how much function Culp will regain as the nerves in the graft continue to regenerate.

"We have to wait a little bit," said Dr. Maria Siemionow, the Cleveland Clinic surgeon who led the team that performed the operation. "It is a major reconstruction ... over the next six to 12 months we will see the animation coming back to her face, but even as she is right now she's just one of us."

"She has nose, she has eyelids, she has lips ... what else {could} you want?"

Culp required the surgery due to the injuries she sustained when she was shot in the face in 2004. The episode left her unable to eat, smell, or taste, according to a statement from the Cleveland Clinic. Culp was also unable to breathe without a tracheotomy.

"I just want to say when somebody has a disfigurement and don't look as pretty as you do, don't judge them, because you never know what happened to them. I was shot," Culp said.

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What a feat of surgical skill.

And, good for the donor family and the docs. It is a literal miracle that they can do this for people -- give them some type of a real life back. Good luck to her.

Thanks for posting!

survived the original gunshot wound.

How sad for her that she will never look remotely like the same person in the first pic. But to not look like the middle is really great.

And she has a beautiful nose now. I rather prefer it to the original (being blessed by one aquiline rather than snub myself).

She has a strong spirit it seems, and that they were able to give her back even the simple pleasure of eating, and the ability to smell is beyond words. I hope many, many others get to benefit too.

It's also a terrible reminder of what domestic violence boils down to.