A Face Transplant Unlike Any Other in History

When it comes to having work done on the face, most people instantly think of a facelift. A facelift is one of the most commonly performed procedures in America. From tightening the skin to eliminating wrinkles to providing a more youthful appearance, a facelift is so common that hardly anyone thinks twice when they hear about work being performed on the face of a patient. However, one man recently underwent a surgery that was much more extensive than a simple facelift. His procedure was so extreme that he now has the face of another person.

The procedure took place at New York University Langone Medical Center. A 41-year-old Mississippi man, who was also a volunteer firefighter, is now living with the face of a bike mechanic from Brooklyn who was only 26 at the time of his death. The surgery is being called the most extensive face transplant surgery ever performed in history. While this might sound like the plot of a movie like “Face Off”, it actually happened earlier this year.

The story actually started in 2001 when Patrick Hardison was on a rescue search mission as a volunteer firefighter. Hardison entered the burning house and was caught as the roof caved in and collapsed on top of him. The roof not only collapsed on Hardison but it also burned the mask he wore as a firefighter onto his face. He was able to escape by jumping out a window. While he was able to get out of the burning house, his injuries were severe across his entire face. His injuries included burns across the whole face, upper torso, neck and head. The burns were severe enough to cause disfiguring injuries that made him lose a good portion of his nose and hair. He also lost a good portion of his eyebrows as well as all of his eyelids, lips and ears.

More than 70 surgeries later, Hardison was still without a face and also without much hope. As luck would have it, a member of his church saw a news story in 2014 about transplant work performed by Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez. The church member contacted Dr. Rodriguez to see if there was any hope for Hardison’s case. It took over a year but Rodriguez was able to find a donor for Hardison. The donor was a bike mechanic named David Rodebaugh who passed away in August of this year. While many of his major organs such as the liver, eyes and kidney had been donated to other patients, his face was still available for Hardsion. A few days after Rodebaugh passed away, Hardison entered surgery to receive the face of the late bike mechanic. The surgery lasted 12 hours as the medical team removed the face from Rodebaugh and placed it on Hardison.

The surgery gave Hardison a variety of body parts that he had been partially, or completely, without since 2001. Hardison’s surgery gave him a new face as well as ears, a scalp, a brand new nose and some new bone structure in the cheeks and chin. His 2001 accident also left him without the ability to close his eyes all the way. The surgery earlier this year gave him muscles to help with blinking as well as new eyelids.

According to Dr. Rodriguez, Hardison is doing quite well at the three month point after the surgery. He should make a full recovery and even be able to speak normally about six months after the surgery.

(FYI: New York University did not charge Hardison for the surgery. The university took care of the entire bill. The surgery cost somewhere between $850,000 and 1-million dollars.)

When Hardison suffered his injuries back in 2001, there was no way he could have imagined that his life would ever include having a face of his own again. The technology and the medical knowledge did not exist back in 2001 that would allow for such a change for the better in Hardison’s life. Not only does he have a brand new face, he also has a chance to resume his life looking like any other human being. The chance to live his life with a normal face is an opportunity that Hardison probably never expected to have again.

- MA