Connie Culp’s new face
The recipient of the first U.S. face transplant steps into the limelight
God bless Connie Culp, said Elizabeth Snead in the Los Angeles Times. Culp, 46, is the first American to undergo a face transplant, and she unveiled her new face Tuesday. Culp’s husband shot her in 2004, destroying her nose, upper jaw, upper lip, palate, one eye, and lower eyelids. (See before-and-after photos) After all that, she’s able to laugh, thank her doctors and nurses, and “crack jokes about getting ‘my nose.’” (Watch Culp’s post-face transplant news conference)
Culp’s facial restoration, at the Cleveland Clinic, wasn’t a “perfect success,” said Allahpundit in Hot Air, but it was “miraculously close.” Thanks to the “mind-boggling” 22-hour operation, she can now eat, breathe on her own, smell, and “go out in public again.” And as her facial nerves regenerate, the doctors will be able to “trim some of the jowls.”
Still, the doctors emphasized that Culp’s face transplant “wasn’t done for aesthetic reasons,” said Ron Winslow in The Wall Street Journal. The ethics are unresolved on performing expensive, high-risk operations that aren’t considered lifesaving. And the stakes are high for the thousands of Americans, including Iraq war casualties, who might be eligible for face transplants.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
'Musk's reliance on China draws rising scrutiny'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
Biba: the story of a 'legendary emporium'
The Week Recommends Brand's 60th anniversary is being marked with retrospective celebrating the 'iconic shop's cultural importance'
By Adrienne Wyper, The Week UK Published
-
How the Russia-Ukraine conflict has spread to Africa
The Explainer Ukraine is attempting to strengthen its alliances on the continent to counter Russia's growing presence
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published