r/interestingasfuck • u/blackfridaydude • 19h ago
Before & After Full Facial Transplantation (Burn Injury)
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u/blackfridaydude 19h ago edited 18h ago
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u/GloomyCardiologist16 18h ago
“What he described as the milestone was not the mirror. It was going into a department store and being nobody in particular.”
Just…wow. The things I take for granted
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u/Super-Cynical 17h ago
I'm going to guess we are a long way off the medical capacity to give him his sight back?
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u/SpiralUnicorn 17h ago
Unfortunately, yeah. Though we have pretty good eye treatments all things considered, with the level of burns he sustained just did too much damage.
That said, he can still see, its just blurry. Amd he reports that since the transplant it has improved (he can blink and stuff now)
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u/duckysammy23 12h ago
That line actually made me cry, I can't even imagine how that must feel. He's earned every moment of peace and I'm so happy for him.
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u/sphinxofblackquartzj 19h ago
Was he a volunteer in 9/11?
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u/dkyguy1995 18h ago
It was in Mississippi 6 days before 9/11
A beam fell on him while he was looking for a woman trapped in the fire and he had to remove some of his gear to get out from underneath
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u/GenericFatGuy 18h ago
We don't deserve firefighters.
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u/That-Spell-2543 18h ago edited 18h ago
It’s truly the second sexiest career someone can have
only beat out by astronaut.
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u/The_Wyzard 16h ago
I met a high school aged boy once who was on track towards incel shit. He was short, and was concerned that no women would be interested in him.
I said, kid, have I got the career path for you.
Get in the best shape you can without bulking up. Study hard, and make a conscious, active effort to learn how to keep your cool in stressful situations. Get certified as an EMT and maybe also firefighter, and then start working towards confined spaces rescue. Get really good at it.
When there's an earthquake, you will go there on zero notice and try to pull extremely distressed babies out from the wreckage of collapsed buildings. It will be incredibly difficult and dangerous.
However, you will be far cooler than mere height can make a man, and you will probably be drowning in pussy.
The light in his eyes was like horny little silmarils.
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u/That-Spell-2543 16h ago
If in ten years you see a news article on Reddit about this man (most likely how he saved a pregnant woman and the litter of homeless kittens she was fostering from some impossible burning flames) you’ll sit back in your squeaky office chair, take your glasses off and gently place them on your desk— and wipe away a single tear.
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u/projectx51 17h ago
I like it when astronauts wear diapers and then drive 950 miles across country to kidnap and possibly murder the love interest of their affair love interest (also an astronaut). It's just like when they wear diapers in space. omg. Sexy.
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u/ConsciousFractals 12h ago
Oh I remember her, she talked to my entire school at an assembly like 3 days prior. There wasn’t enough room in our gym for the whole school so they took us to the church and she did her presentation right in front of the altar.
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u/HaVoCensures 17h ago
I’m sorry, what? Is this a reference to something?
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u/millahnna 16h ago
It's a reference to when this former astronaut went bonkers for a minute. Kinda sucks; she was a legit badass and now she'll mostly only be known for her very worst day. Tbf it was a real bad worst day.
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u/HaVoCensures 15h ago
Ooooof yeah that’s a hard fall from grace innit.
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u/millahnna 15h ago
Yeah and now she's just permanently mocked as the lady astronaut who wore a diaper to stalk her ex's new girl.
Just a hella bummer
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u/Old-Ad-2837 18h ago
It says that it was a house fire in the link that was provided for more context
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u/Swimming_Onion_4835 19h ago
Sadly, there is a lot of shady shit around face transplants. The Guardian did an excellent job breaking it down last year: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/nov/27/face-transplant-patients-results-outcomes
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u/Fabulous_Ad1801 19h ago
Thank you for sharing the article. I was reading about another face transplant (it included the donor's face, collarbones, jawbones with teeth and tongue) where the recipient eventually had to get a kidney transplant because of the immune surpressants. What a horrible journey
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u/Upper-Management-AI 18h ago
I had a heart transplant and the amount of close monitor I have had for the last three years was super important. I wonder how much monitoring was done for them and whether they where just thrown a bunch of immunosuppressants without monitoring the dosage.
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u/unknown7383762 18h ago
Curious. How paranoid do you have to be about everything with a heart transplant? What are the precautions you have to take?
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u/ihopeyougethitbyacar 17h ago
I had a heart transplant 6 yeats ago when I was 30. There are certain things to be aware of. For instance we need to avoid certain foods, like grape fruit and palmagrante because they interfere with our anti-rejection meds. All our food needs to be cooked, so nothing raw. Anytime I have meat it needs to be well done.
Im about 50x more likely to develop skin cancer if I get burned, so wearing sunscreen when outside is important. I have a skin cancer screening every year to make sure I dont develop anything.
in terms of care, I will monitored for the rest of my life. I have hospitsl visits with my care team every 6 monts, and an angiogram every other yeat to check for stenosis and rejection. You are on a lot of medication after surgery for about a year but it drops significantly after that. I was on like maybe 10 meds including steroids post transplant and now im on 3.
In terms of paranoia, I was really cautious my first few years, but have adjusted pretty well since then. so i used to mask everywhere I went but now only do it when I am in a crowded place like a bus or airplane or somewhere of the like.
Probably the hardest bit to swallow is that Transplants are not for life. They have an average lifespan of about 10 years. Most likely I will need another one at some point. Plus, each time you have an organ transplant, the pool of available donors shrinks. I cant rember why this is, but its something I remember being told.
The bright side is that the average is just that, the average. Could be more, could be less. I know of a guy who got 12 yeats out of his first heart. I read of another who has gotten 30 out of his first one and was still going. Its a hard thing to live with, but I just tell myself each year is another year I wouldn't have gotten if I hadn't had surgery.
Feel free to ask if you have more questions.
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u/Upper-Management-AI 17h ago
This is pretty much my experience. Except I have young children, so I’m sick all the fucking time regardless of wearing a mask. I had shingles and had to spend three days at the hospital getting IV medication every six hours. I got used to taking the medication, doesn’t really bother me much. Every Sunday I do my medicine for the week and listen to music or YouTube videos while I do it.
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u/unknown7383762 17h ago
You both have really great perspectives. I was diagnosed with MS 17 years ago, right before first child was born. I definitely know a bit about immunosuppressant medicine and getting sick all the time. I was in the hospital in 2024 for a week for pneumonia and I've been on all kinds of steroids and IV meds over the years.
I wish you both nothing but the best.
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u/ihopeyougethitbyacar 17h ago
I remember the weekly medicine, is that the one where you have to sit up straight after taking it otherwise it will burn your esophagus?
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u/sharklaserguru 14h ago
Plus, each time you have an organ transplant, the pool of available donors shrinks
I was curious about that bit, it looks like the transplanted organ makes your immune system more sensitive to certain HLA proteins from the donor. Everyone has a set of different versions of HLA, but not the same ones, so as you gain sensitivity to some types of HLA you need to find donors that don't match that. Each subsequent organ received increases the number of HLA variants you are sensitive to, which means you need donors with different variants, thus shrinking the pool each time as you eliminate possibilities.
* Not a doctor or biologist, so take that high level summary with a massive grain of salt!
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u/Fast-Presence-2004 15h ago
That was an interesting read. Thank you for the insights and all the best to you.
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u/F1sherman765 16h ago
To be fair immune suppressants issues are an issue with even the simplest of transplants.
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u/what_ismylife 13h ago
Kidney damage is a risk with many of the most common immunosuppressants used for solid organ transplant patients (tacrolimus in particular). But they are very effective at preventing rejection.
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u/Virtual-Elderberry31 18h ago
I was at a conference where Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez presented the treatment done for Richard Norris, the first "full" face transplant, a few years after it was done. The conference is full of doctors who think they're the best there is, and they can be very critical. At the end of his presentation, the audience gave him a standing ovation, which had only every happened for one other presenter in the history of the organization. I left thinking this was a miraculous treatment.
Reading articles like this, and even articles about more successful treatments, like Richard's, you understand that this is actually a fairly controversial treatment. Norris is generally positive about his post-transplant life, but he's had very serious complications, including kidney failure, requiring a kidney transplant, as well as basal cell carcinoma.
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u/IThinkImNateDogg 18h ago
I think it’s one of those things where us normal faced people will struggle to understand the whys/ and risks, because we don’t understand just how different life is for everyone like him.
For him the cost benefit of having a significant more normal looking face is worth it in the day to day, liver issues and medication be damned
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u/Virtual-Elderberry31 17h ago
Yeah, fair. As someone with a normal face I’ve never had to weigh the consequences.
In his presentation, Dr. Rodriguez also talked about a point in the surgery where the recipients face is removed. He talked about it being this pinnacle of the treatment where, if things don’t work, you’ve condemned someone to a fate worse than death. He spoke about talking to patients about this in great detail. Explaining that they’d have to consent to having their face removed with no guarantees that they’d even be able to go back to where they were before surgery.
I can’t imagine agreeing to that, but, like you correctly point out, people with faces can’t know what it’s like.
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u/CaptainHawaii 19h ago
Jesus fucking Christ I didn't even get to the medical part!
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u/anndrago 17h ago
She got so messed up after a fight with her family that she fell asleep and her dog ate her face? What the ever loving hell?
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u/CaptainHawaii 17h ago
And was so blackout drunk it happened without ever making the dog stop!?!?
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u/anndrago 17h ago
I wasn't there to see it, but I have a sneaking suspicion there may be more to the story.
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u/Original-Window6281 16h ago
She actually overdosed on sleeping pills as well. It’s heartbreaking but her dog was panicking and trying to wake her up by clawing, scratching, and gnawing on her face. That’s not conjecture I promise- if you look it up it’s verifiable. This article does make it sound incredibly sinister, but it’s just incredibly tragic.
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u/anndrago 16h ago
Oh holy crap, I appreciate the additional color. What an absolutely gut-wrenchingly unfortunate series of events.
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u/MoaraFig 18h ago
It seems like a lot of the consequences of the transplants are attributable to the American's messed up medical system and not being able to afford to live.
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u/Epicguru 18h ago edited 17h ago
Exactly my thoughts after reading that. While there are serious concerns with the ethics of some of the process, and the severe psychological impact, most of the issues raised essentially boil down to: American for-profit heathcare and lack of suitable welfare programs make living with a disability unbearable for all but the richest.
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u/Abeeeeeeeeed 17h ago
No disagreement on the shameful state of American healthcare and the barrier it presents to patients who receive this experimental procedure but I do think there is more at play here. The anecdotes regarding the French woman which seem to indicate dysmorphia and suicidal ideation are extremely alarming. And the way when she became terminally ill and her face “died” before she did and had to be removed? Awful. They make a strong case that the cost/benefit of this procedure needs to be reevaluated not just in the US, but everywhere.
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u/Foreign_Recipe8300 18h ago
insurance will often deny coverage for anything they consider to be "cosmetic" which i can see them arguing that here. bastards.
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u/Dangerous-Crow7494 13h ago
I mean, organ failure and dying early doesn’t sound like fun even if you’re treated for free.
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u/totoro1193 17h ago
the ads make it extremely frustrating to read, but from what I was able to read it does seem like an interesting article
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u/Orca_Alt_Account 16h ago
You don't use an ad blocker?
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u/totoro1193 16h ago
No not on my phones default browser nor the reddit app’s browser. I eventually figured out I could bypass them with the browsers reader mode though
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u/Wisekittn 18h ago
That first Pic. Just how does the skin decide to just close off your eyes, when it grows back???
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u/blackfridaydude 18h ago
The skin doesn't grow back over the eye. His eyelids were destroyed in the fire, and eyelids can't be rebuilt from skin taken elsewhere. What's covering the socket is scar tissue from the burn healing across, plus grafts. Scar contracts as it matures, so it pulls whatever it's attached to tight over the opening.
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u/PrimaryAccording8059 10h ago
“He had no eyelids to protect his corneas. Doctors fashioned a cone of skin where his eyelids once were — it looked like a lizard’s eye. That offered some protection, though Hardison still couldn’t blink”
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u/EverFairy 9h ago
I just realized, but not being able to blink sounds like real torture. Not just physically (dry eyes and stuff), but also mentally. Imo blinking is kind of like a tiny reset/moment of respite for the mind? It breaks up our stream of consciousness into bite sized, processable pieces. Idk, I can't imagine uninterrupted sight. A constant stream of consciousness with no little breaks inbetween. You're just always there. I'd go crazy.
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u/terid3 18h ago
This is the worst thing about burn injuries. Not only are they painful and dangerous, but they take your identity. It's heartbreaking. My grandmother lost a small sibling as a child,.who pulled a pot of boiling water on top of herself. It took her three days to die according to my aunt. It traumatized my grandma, she was terrified of fire ever since. The poor baby too...
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u/Foreign_Recipe8300 18h ago
This is the worst thing about burn injuries. Not only are they painful and dangerous, but they take your identity. It's heartbreaking.
i had an employee who was a burn victim and one day out of the blue she shows me a picture and says "didn't I used to be so pretty?"
fuck man that is heavy
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u/terid3 18h ago
I used to go into a jewelry store downtown , they had a salesman who obviously suffered severe burns. I loved it because a lot of businesses wouldn't hire someone who looked like that...but that person still deserves a job, right? I couldn't afford to spend money in their store though...wish I could.
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u/doortoNarnia 18h ago
what did you say to her
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u/Foreign_Recipe8300 18h ago
this was a long time ago and i think i was still in my 20s. i probably just changed the subject. dont remember exactly. knowing myself i probably told her that it's not appropriate as her boss to make comments about her appearance either way.
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u/anothervulcan 17h ago
I knew the donor. Wild to see this on my feed as I was just looking at some old articles about it the other day.
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u/Qwisp 16h ago
Does he look anything like the donor, or does his bone structure make it so he looks totally different?
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u/anothervulcan 15h ago
Completely different and unrecognizable
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u/TheGrimMelvin 14h ago
That is interesting. I would think the two would look at least somewhat similar. But I guess the structure and shape beneath changes a lot of things.
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u/TremerSwurk 10h ago
The recipient’s facial muscles were also kept underneath the donor face so it wasn’t just the bone structure that changes the appearance. Their skulls were actually very similar in size and appearance which is why the face donation was possible in the first place. It took his medical team almost a year to find a face compatible with not just his immune system but also his underlying bone structure
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u/sleepterror666 13h ago
The structure does change a lot, but I always do recognize little features whenever I see photos of the recipient.
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u/TurnSeparate9654 18h ago
It’s incredible that surgeries like this exist now and can give people a second chance at living a normal life
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u/Due_Yesterday_2850 19h ago
Why have his eyes been censored on the 2nd picture but not the first
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u/DirectorLeather6567 19h ago
I mean, how're you gonna identify him based on the first eyes?
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u/SomeoneWhoLikesAmeme 19h ago
They are way easier to identify
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u/DirectorLeather6567 19h ago
I sure as hell HOPE it wouldn't be. Considering, ya know, I'd ASSUME the facial reconstruction would include fixing the eyes.
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u/Ankhi333333 19h ago edited 9h ago
I guess because he could have been recognized from the second picture . Anyway here you have the same picture and an update without the bars.
Edit: Here is a video of him giving an interview last year as kind of a 10 year update. Just so you can get an idea of how the skin aged.
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u/Kalkin93 19h ago
He looks great, I expected his eyes to be in a lot worse condition based on the before photo so I was pleasantly surprised.
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u/olagorie 17h ago
Thanks for sharing that’s impressive
I had assumed that he had gone blind
He even looks a bit like his son
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u/apexodoggo 11h ago
He still has the same bone structure underneath (or at least mostly the same), so that probably helps a bit in keeping some familiarity despite everything else being a transplant.
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u/blackfridaydude 19h ago
Not sure, best guess is the post op image was taken before he'd agreed to be identified publicly, or it's a consent condition tied to that particular shot.
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u/Letiferr 18h ago
Lmao. That second picture is way more than enough to positively identify him
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u/GentlemenHODL 15h ago
I don't know why his eyes were censored, but here's his face without the censorship
https://www.cnn.com/2016/08/24/health/face-transplant-patrick-hardison
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u/thehenryguy1 10h ago
It’s crazy, he actually looks very very similar to how he did before the accident.
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u/FutureSelection 13h ago
This is him now: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP83UgwcU/
Face transplants are very vascular, which means lots of blood vessels. It is more prone to rejection. He requires high doses of immunosuppressants which are toxic to the kidneys. You can see that he’s had some signs of tissue rejection on his face. Glad to see he is doing well, everything considered.
He also wrote a book about his experience. Thinking about purchasing to support.
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u/DothThouHoist_ 16h ago
looks great but must be hard to see past the rectangles
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u/jamesianm 13h ago
Yeah they did such a great job on the rest of the face it's a huge bummer that the eyes ended up black rectangles like that
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u/Particular-Crew5978 16h ago
I work at a hospital where a woman had her own child because she received a donor uterus. It's amazing how far we've come and what we take for granted.
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u/Qwisp 15h ago
I wonder if they will automatically remove the uterus after she is done childbearing because of possible rejection and I assume having to take immunosuppressants.
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u/ExplorerOfSeychelles 14h ago
Here is an article showing a photo of him before the fire, it really shows how much work went into making him whole again
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u/UninspiredPeep 14h ago
I'm a researcher and I remember during a conference I attended a MD who specialized on face transplant had a masterclass on the subject.
During his presentation he pulled photos of how the procedure was done and you could see it was basically just removing the face and putting a literal skin mask in its place.
Imagine waking up on an average thursday and seeing photos of skinned faces. 💀 Absolutely horrifying. I remember living the auditorium with my legs shaking
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u/Queefer_Sutherland- 18h ago
Uhhh where did his trach go? Not even a hole?
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u/bonsaiaphrodite 15h ago
Looks like there’s a scar near the clavicle, so the transplant probably included the neck.
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u/Hyena87 18h ago
Why were his eyes left covered in the first image? Were they damaged and needed to have light intake blocked? Did his eyelids get burned so bad he needed the extra skin to stop his eyes from drying out?
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u/wemustburncarthage 16h ago
Of all transplants I think these freak me out the most. They’re both incredibly cool but also terrifying
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u/Valuable-Ad1063 14h ago
I have so much sympathy for victims of injuries or crimes that disfigure their faces to this extent. What a horrifying thing to happen to a person, and what resilience is required to keep on living following these incidents.
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u/FriendlyAntonio 17h ago
...what's the point in censoring just their eye's? Making me think they're Medusa or some shit, lol.
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u/handcraftedcandy 16h ago
Plastic surgery like this is absolutely stunning to me. I can't even imagine how much happier this person is, the results are incredible!
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u/ToolTimeT 15h ago
I can't even begin to imagine what this man has endured. Hope it gets better and better for you sir.
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u/LouisesBelcher 12h ago
Wow, that’s amazing! Doctors did an incredible job. He just looks like a guy again. Very cool.
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u/Saho_6 8h ago
Call me stupid but shouldn't face skin more or less adapt to the bone structure it's laid upon to recreate someone's original shapes and features?
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u/Zarxon 19h ago
I happy for this guy but sad for the parents of the donor who will be reminded of their sons face on someone else. I feel ultimately they are happy their son made a positive difference in someone else’s life after his passing, but I know for me personally it would hit me in the gut every time I bumped into this man.
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u/Sue_Spiria 18h ago
I have read that you don't look like your donor after a face transplant because bone structure plays an important role in how a face looks.
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u/anothervulcan 17h ago
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1CB1RVoCDd/?mibextid=
Donor’s mother did meet him.
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u/HazMatterhorn 18h ago
I know for me personally it would hit me in the gut every time I bumped into this man
Why would they ever bump into him? I feel like the odds are pretty low.
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u/Accomplished_Gold510 16h ago edited 6h ago
Some surgeons like to argue that they will not adjust to the new face psychologically, but then expect them to adjust to a mutilated face
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u/Fresh-Diet9408 15h ago
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2015/11/patrick-hardison-face-transplant.html?mid=nymag_press
In case anyone wants to read more about this man.
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u/I_love_to_heal 12h ago
Maybe a stupid question but eyes are questioned for privacy?
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u/Hoo_dee_nee 9h ago
No, round eyes that set in your eye sockets are out of fashion. The new trend is large black rectangles that will make all the boys faint!
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u/Crafty_Lavishness_79 9h ago
The skin will adjust pigment and shape and swelling but it's still got plenty of psychological issies that come with it
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u/elitne 5h ago
Welding is a part of my job and occasionally I burn my hand or a finger enough to the point where it can blister up. It hurts like a fucker for weeks sometimes and the throbbing pain takes ages to go.
For the life of me I can’t begin to imagine the immense pain an injury like this would feel like, what a soldier
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u/stellar_caprice 3h ago
Dave Rodebaugh was the donor. He was a sweetheart of a human and his friends all miss him dearly. RIP Dave 🖤
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u/UninspiredDreamer 15h ago
Honestly im torn. The rest of his face obviously looks much better but his eyes went from tiny slits to become two large black blips :/
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u/Butthugger420 19h ago
Honestly, while the transplant is impressive, I cant even imagine the psychological toll a burned face like that will place upon you. His face is just gone