The astonishing journey of the most advanced face transplant ever
Doctors have revealed how they carried out the most technologically advanced face transplant ever on a 26-year-old man who survived a suicide attempt - and the meteorological obstacles they had to overcome to make it happen.
Cameron ‘Cam’ Underwood was 24 when he took a gun, held it under his chin, and pulled the trigger at home alone in Yuba, California on June 26, 2016.
He woke up in hospital with no face except for a forehead, eyeballs and tongue - and he couldn’t believe what he was told. He had battled depression for years, and he had once pithily said to his parents that he’d considered suicide, but he didn’t think he would truly try to take his own life.
But there he was, waking up from five weeks of heavy sedation, alive against all the odds but with no face - unable to eat and talk, struggling to breathe, and ashamed to see anyone without wearing a mask.
He woke up in hospital with no face except for a forehead, eyeballs and tongue - and he couldn’t believe what he was told. He had battled depression for years, and he had once pithily said to his parents that he’d considered suicide, but he didn’t think he would truly try to take his own life
However, months later, his mother heard about Dr Eduardo Rodriguez of NYU Langone Health who is one of a handful of doctors pioneering face transplants in the US. They got in touch, Cam was accepted, and in January 2018 a donor became available.
Today at a press conference, Dr Rodriguez revealed Cam’s was the most sophisticated face transplant ever performed, with the shortest time between injury and operation, despite traveling further than any other patient in history, 2,800 miles across the US.
It was almost derailed by an arctic storm - ‘the bomb cyclone’ which hit the US in January 2018. Thanks to ‘the generosity’ of certain pilots, Cam managed to get on one of the only flights permitted from California to New York that day so he could undergo the groundbreaking operation.
But it was a success, and his recovery has been faster than any other case - to the extent that, within just a few months, he’s even been skydiving.
Sharing the photo, Dr Rodriguez joked: ‘I can at least check off the box that a face transplant can tolerate jumping 15,000 out of the air – and it all held together! I think this photo shows Cam is living and doing the things he loves.’
Speaking publicly for the first time, Cam told reporters: ‘Even though I’m still recovering and gaining back some sensation and mobility, I’m so happy with the results. I have a nose and a mouth again, so I’m able to smile, speak, and eat solid foods. I also don’t get as many stares or questions from strangers.’
‘For all of us it’s really remarkable to be part of this,’ Dr Rodriguez said.
‘A mother who cried every day, finally her prayers were answered. And his father too, they finally get to see their child whole again.’
NYU Langone Health is the only center in New York State that can perform face transplants, having now performed three, and it’s one of just a few in the country.
They were put on the map in August 2015, when Dr Rodriguez operated on Patrick Hardison, who was severely burned while working as a volunteer firefighter in Mississippi in September 2001. His ears and eyelids were burned off, and he had to have more than 70 surgeries to treat his injury.
Hardison’s is still the most extensive face transplant that had ever been done. But Cam’s broke new ground. Technologically, it was groundbreaking: they used 3D printing to create the presurgical structure and align his bones in surgery. It was also the first time anyone has used a personalized 3D printed mask rather than a silicone mold - to help shape the patient’s face post-transplant.
‘When we first met Cameron, we were confident we could improve his appearance and, more importantly, his function and quality of life,’ Rodriguez added.
A mother who cried every day, finally her prayers were answered. And his father too, they finally get to see their child whole again