New chance at life : NJ man gets new face and hands in rare surgery pix11.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pix11.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Man gets face, hands transplant surgery after fiery car crash
Updated Feb 03, 2021;
Posted Feb 03, 2021
Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez has Joe DiMeo demonstrate the flexibility in his new hands, Monday, Jan. 25, 2021 at NYU Langone Health in New York. Rodriguez led a surgical team that amputated both of DiMeo’s hands, replacing them mid-forearm and connecting nerves, blood vessels and 21 tendons with hair-thin sutures. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)AP
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Almost six months after a rare face and hands transplant, Joe DiMeo is relearning how to smile, blink, pinch and squeeze.
The 22-year-old New Jersey resident had the operation last August, two years after being badly burned in a car crash.
Experts say it appears the surgery at NYU Langone Health was a success, but warn it’ll take some time to say for sure.
U.S. surgeons have completed at least 18 face transplants and 35 hand transplants, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, or UNOS, which oversees the nation s transplant system.
But simultaneous face and double hand transplants are extremely rare and have only been tried twice before. The first attempt was in 2009 on a patient in Paris who died about a month later from complications. Two years later, Boston doctors tried it again on a woman who was mauled by a chimpanzee, but ultimately had to remove the transplanted hands days later.
You got a new chance at life : Recipient of extremely rare face and hands transplant doing well
February 3, 2021 / 5:57 AM / AP COVID-19 puts critical medical transplants on hold
New York Almost six months after a rare face and hands transplant, Joe DiMeo is relearning how to smile, blink, pinch and squeeze.
The 22-year-old New Jersey resident had the operation last August, two years after being badly burned in a car crash. I knew it would be baby steps all the way, DiMeo told The Associated Press recently. You ve got to have a lot of motivation, a lot of patience. And you ve got to stay strong through everything.
NYU doctors perform first successful face, double hand transplant on 22-year-old Joe DiMeo abc30.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from abc30.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.