According to his medical team’s announcement on Wednesday, a 22-year-old man from New Jersey who was involved in a vehicle accident that left him with catastrophic injuries is now the first person in the world to have successfully undergone face transplant surgery as well as double hand transplant surgery.
As a result of Joe DiMeo falling asleep while driving home from a night shift in July 2018, which caused his car to tip over and subsequently explode, he incurred third-degree burns on over 80 percent of his body. These wounds required skin grafts.
Despite the fact that he was saved by a bystander, he suffered terrible injuries that included the amputation of his fingertips, extensive facial scarring, and the loss of his lips and eyelids, which impaired his vision and made it difficult for him to lead a normal life.
“There’s always light at the end of the tunnel, never give up,” DiMeo stated during a press conference that was hosted by NYU Langone Health. NYU Langone Health was the institution that pioneered the method that utilized 3D printed cutting-guides.
The operation was performed on the 12th of August, 2020, and it lasted for close to 23 hours total.
It required the participation of 96 individuals working in the medical field, lead by Eduardo Rodriguez, MD, who is the director of the Face Transplant Program at NYU Langone.
Rodriguez expressed the widespread consensus among the group that Joe exemplifies the ideal patient. “He’s the patient with the highest level of motivation that I’ve ever come across.”
