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.
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Joe DiMeo, 22, received the double hand and face transplant in August 2020 at NYU Langone in NYC
His body has accepted both hands and the face - a world first
DiMeo was 19 when a car wreck left him with burns to 80 percent of his body in 2018
He was in a medically induced coma for two months and has undergone 20 reconstructive surgeries
His doctors have been hunting for a donor for him for years but were set back by COVID-19
In August, they found a donor in Delaware - DiMeo had just a six percent chance of finding one
NYU doctors perform first successful face, double hand transplant on 22-year-old Joe DiMeo\ abc7news.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from abc7news.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Joe DiMeo plays ball with his dog Buster in the backyard of his house in Clark, N.J., last Thursday, six months after an extremely rare double hand and face transplant. “In the future, I have a lot more plans for myself,” he said. “You got a new chance at life. You really can’t give up.” (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
MANHATTAN (AP) 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.