A 44-year-old woman from Vermont received a full face transplant after an attack that left her disfigured. The surgery took 15 hours and is the fifth face transplant performed at the Brigham and Woman's Hospital in Boston.
In 2007, Carmen Blandin Tarleton's estranged husband broke into her home and poured industrial strength lye on her. The attack burned 80 percent of her body and for three months, she was placed in a medically induced coma.
Tarleton was left severely disfigured and declared legally blind, even after 55 surgeries.
"Despite our best efforts, Carmen was left severely disfigured and in constant pain. She would drool almost constantly," said Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, director of plastic surgery transplantation at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
As ABC News reports, Pomahac, along with her surgical team carefully transplanted "facial skin, including the neck, nose, lips, facial muscles, arteries and nerves of the donor." It's estimated that over the course of the next six months, Tarleton will regain between 70 to 80 percent of the nerve endings in her face to allow for facial movement.
"I could never have imagined the overwhelming feelings I encountered after my surgery. I could freely move my head from side to side without the usual scar discomfort I have felt for almost six years now. I cried with such a deep appreciation for the persons truly responsible for giving me this gift: this new physical freedom. I am so grateful for all that have been watching over me with such tenderness and loving care. I know how truly blessed I am, and will have such a nice reflection in the mirror to remind myself what selfless really is. Thank you, thank you, thank you," said Tarleton in a blog post.
Thanks to medical advances, Tarleton will be able to continue her life with more mobility and a positive outlook.
