Dallas Wiens: Recipient of the First Full Face Transplant in the United States

"Daddy, you're so handsome," the little girl told Dallas Wiens. The words came tumbling out of her mouth when she saw her father for the first time after his operation.

Wiens, 25, made history in March 2011 as the first person in the United States to receive a full-face transplant. Two months later, he appeared at a news conference from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. It was his first public appearance since he received a new face.

Joined by his plastic surgeons, Dr. Bohdan Pomahac and Dr. Elof Eriksson, Wiens appeared before a packed room of news reporters and photographers.

"[My face] feels natural," said the young man from Fort Worth, Texas. "Every step of the way was amazing," he said as he answered their questions about his miracle transformation.

More than 30 doctors and nurses worked for 15 hours on Wiens' surgery. Thanks to an anonymous donor, he received a nose, lips, facial skin, muscle, and nerves.

While praising Wiens for his courage and strength, Dr. Pomahac called the donor's gift "the most selfless gift one human can give another."

Richard S. Luskin, the New England Organ Bank president, agreed. "This remarkable, anonymous gift is another example of the life-affirming power of organ and tissue donation," he said.

The donor's family, who requested anonymity, had to approve the face donation. According to Dr. Pomahac, Wiens won't look like his old self or the donor, but "probably somewhere in the middle."

The United States Department of Defense paid for Wiens' transplant surgery. The Boston hospital received $3.4 million in research funding for five face transplants. The military hopes the findings from the Wiens operation and other surgeries will help war veterans with severe facial wounds.

A tragic accident in November 2008 changed Wiens' life. As he painted a Fort Worth church, his head touched a high-tension electrical line. The electrocution accident caused severe burns and nearly ended his life.

Wiens lost most of his face, and the accident blinded his remaining eye. Dozens of surgeries at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas left him with a smooth, featureless face of grafted skin.

The transplant surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital gave Wiens a new face, but it was unable to restore his vision. He received a pair of acrylic eyes in September 2011. The Southlake Lions Club is raising money to buy a service dog for Wiens.

The transplant surgery results were better than Dr. Pomahac expected. Feeling and function should return to Wiens' face as his body regenerates nerve endings.

After his accident, Wiens knew he had a choice: get bitter or get better. He chose the latter and moved on with his life. Wiens credits his desire for a face transplant to his desire to smile again, and to his longing to feel the kisses of his four-year-old daughter Scarlette.

His child and his faith are the things that have kept Wiens motivated throughout his ordeal. "Even though I'm in amazing hands here," he said of his surgeons, "I'm also in God's hands."

Wiens, a member of Ridglea Baptist Church in Fort Worth, addressed a Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC) conference in February 2011.

"They say I'm tenacious but we know differently," he remarked. "On the very first line of my medical record it says, 'This young man is a miracle of God.' Even they cannot deny that it was God who saved my life. The doctors that I had, God put their skill to work in the right place and at the right time to keep me alive."

Nearly a dozen people from around the world have received full-face transplants to date. They come from the United States, France, Spain, and China.

• Aasen, Eric. "Full-face Transplant Recipient Discusses his Life-changing Surgery." Dallas Morning News. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
• Pierce, Jerry. (2010, October 22). "Burn Victim Blazing New Trails." Southern Baptist Texan. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
• Pierce, Jerry. (2011, March 22). "Full Face Transplant Recipient Given Self-Described Miracle." Baptist Press. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
• Rusconi, Peg. (2011, March 21). "Brigham and Women's Performs Nation's First Full Face Transplant." CBS Boston. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
• St. James. Janet. (2011, September 26). "Amazing Changes Continue for Face Transplant Recipient." WFAA-TV / Dallas-Fort Worth. Retrieved March 10, 2012.
• Wiens, Dallas. (2012). "Learn His Story." Dallas Wiens: Shocked but not Shaken. Retrieved March 10, 2012.

Copyright © 2011. Annette R. Smith. All rights reserved.

Published: May 10, 2011 / Modified: March 10, 2012