
Katie's New Face - danso
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/09/face-transplant-katie-stubblefield-story-identity-surgery-science/
======
RcouF1uZ4gsC
> Much of Katie’s care is being paid for by the Department of Defense, because
> her youth and ballistic trauma make her a stand-in for wounded warriors. For
> the rest of her life, she’ll take powerful antirejection drugs with risks of
> their own, becoming a lifelong subject in the study of this still
> experimental surgery.

Kudos to the DoD for doing this. The military historically has been the driver
for advances in surgery. This will not only benefit Katie, but the knowledge
gained from this will also benefit many wounded soldiers in the future.

~~~
extralego
Even better would be not losing her face to begin with.

This was preventable.

Am I the only one to notice the events that led up to this?

1\. Young girl moves multiple times due to her parent’s jobs, causing for
stress and anxiety.

2\. Girl finds stability and passion when she is granted an encouraging
educational experience/environment at a private school where her parents both
found _contract_ jobs.

3\. Parents both lost their _contract_ jobs on the same day.

4\. As a result of her parents losing their jobs, she could no longer go the
school, because her parents could not afford it.

5\. Her boyfriend who went to that school cheated on her.

6\. She shot herself in the face.

Getting cheated on in high school happens. It’s a painful experience but it’s
generally a pretty good time for it to happen, because (ideally) you’re in a
secure place where you can experience pain without existential loss.

Moving is rough, but not nearly as rough as having your family morph between
social classes. This sort of thing is just evil for a child. Either up or down
is just awful. Neither you or your peers have any context for what is
happening. You’re entirely misunderstood and feel out of place. I will not
have kids unless I can be reasonably certain they won’t have to experience
this. In her case, her family was never even in the social class she
acclimated to. This is one seriously dirty trick, especially for a child.
Obviously her family was doing _everything_ they could for her. This was just
out of their control.

To face those complex realities that define your entire world and have it
thrown in your face by your boyfriend cheating on you with someone else, both
of whom presumably had the security of surplus income supporting their
education and social life, is really bad. But we forget how much worse this is
for a child.

Children in high school are smart. They understand a lot of stuff, even the
difference between rich and poor. But they should only be expected to be able
to make sense of so much at a time. The whole idea of this stage is to develop
a stable self-identity in an environment encouraging of education and
confidence. She lost both in the blink of an eye.

And she had to face the reality that going to another school like the one
where she had found passion and nourishment was all just short of not
happening.

This is just one of the reasons these games we play with education funding and
classism are sick. This girl did not have to be in her situation.

We love to talk about how competition motivates innovation, but it also
motivates economic rollercoasters. Maybe adults can handle that, but children
simply can’t. This is one disgusting way to live and kids all over America are
riding this rollercoaster while their parents do everything in their mighty
will to give them a stable healthy existence.

But we’ve created an America where an honest living means a shitty school and
an existence no more stable than a contract job. Nobody thinks about what this
does to the kids. All they see is _innovation_.

~~~
hackits
She shot herself in the face.

~~~
extralego
I explained that.

Or, are you trying to imply something? If so, please elaborate.

------
xeromal
It takes a brave soul to wake up every day and face the world after sustaining
facial damage like that. I start feeling insecure after getting some acne on
my face. May she be blessed for remaining strong.

~~~
IshKebab
Yeah especially because it was a result of a suicide attempt in the first
place. If you try to kill yourself after your boyfriend cheats on you, how do
you not after this?

Also, yet another reason why America's gun laws are stupid. She wouldn't have
shot herself in England.

~~~
Cthulhu_
She might've just overdosed on something or jumped off a bridge in England.
You don't need a gun to commit suicide.

Also the US has gun laws and gun owners organizations, they all agree that at
home, you should store your guns in a locked container.

~~~
DanBC
Guns are usually instantly fatal and available in the home.

Overdosing is dangerous, but it's less lethal than gunshot.

Falls from high places are dangerous, but it requires the person makes a plan
to travel to that location which doesn't fit for the rapid onset nature of
many suicide attempts. Death by falls and fracture (these include jumping in
front of trains) account for a small number of deaths by suicide. So, people
can do it. But they tend not to do it.
[https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsde...](https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/suicidesintheunitedkingdom/2016registrations#suicide-
methods)

------
SpikeDad
That was a difficult article (pictures actually) to read. It shows (to me at
least) how intimately our humanity is linked to a face that passes our own
internal pattern matching heuristics.

I'm not proud to admit my initial thought was not how difficult life must be
for her but rather how deformed her face was.

But then I was proud that my (our) inherent human intelligence and morality
was able to put that thought aside and wonder what I could do to help her.

~~~
buxtehude
For many who have facial deformities, depending on how severe, every day can
be a challenge as they are continually reminded by the condition they live
with - and potentially the inherent limitations (actual or self-imposed) of
that condition. This can be a very negative space to be in - day in and day
out.

I urge all of you with children, to please foster empathy in your little
people for other people less fortunate. Children can at times say the most
brutal and hurtful things - and these hurtful words or even laughter -
especially for children with deformities - can be very painful.

While shocking to see the pictures in this article, I hope many (most? all?)
of us feel great empathy for her or others with facial or other deformities.

Thank you for being so open about your reactions to the article.

~~~
fjsolwmv
"less fortunate" is a strange way to describe the victim of a condition that
isn't bad luck, it's a moral crime perpetrated against her by all the pet
around her.

~~~
SpikeDad
Geez you don't seem to be able to scrape up any sympathy for someone that felt
suicide was their only way out.

I believe the converse - if there was a way for people to end their lives
painlessly and surely (with the proper safeguards, blah blah blah) it might
have served her better.

But in our reality I'm pleased society has stepped up for her.

------
crescentfresh
As a father to two so-far-healthy young boys, one soon to be a teenager I feel
devastated at the thought of either of them having to endure the level of
emotional chaos that Katie went through the moments leading up to her suicide
attempt. My stomach goes into a knot at the thought. I mean gosh, it was a
cheating boyfriend. I don't know what to do to protect them from such a path.

~~~
TomMckenny
Perhaps if there are no instruments at hand that allow the young to act on
such a disastrous suicidal impulse, at least some of these incidents could be
prevented.

~~~
int_handler
If you want to go that route, then you'll need to also remove the following
instruments:

* Ropes or any kind of cords that can be used for hanging * Blades of any kind (kitchen knives, scissors, box cutters, utility knives, etc.) * Anything that can be sharpened into a point that can puncture flesh * Any kind of chemical substance that can be deadly in sufficient quantities. * Any bodies of water where one can drown * Any accessible point that is high enough for one to jump off of.

The list goes on. Eventually, the environment that is left would basically be
a padded room in a psychiatric hospital in a straightjacket.

~~~
maxxxxx
A gun is certainly more attractive as suicide tool than all the things you
have listed. It's easy, quick and painless.

~~~
jakhead
From the story, clearly it isn't. I've a friend who killed himself with a
pistol. From the blood spatter around his house it was determined that he shot
himself, survived and woke up, put a towel on his head, then shot himself
again.

~~~
maxxxxx
I guess I should have written "It looks quick, easy and painless". If I wanted
to kill myself I probably would use a gun.

------
brianyu8
Non-interactive version of the article can be found here:
[https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/09/face-
tra...](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/09/face-transplant-
katie-stubblefield-story-identity-surgery-science/)

~~~
dang
Thanks, we've switched to that more textual link. The interactive version is
pretty impactful, so people should probably look at both. That link is
[https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/09/face-
tra...](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/09/face-transplant-
katie-stubblefield-photography-interactive/).

~~~
culot
Oh wow, that is a different experience from the mainly-text version. The text
version is missing _a lot_ of images, it seems.

------
gdubs
This is an incredible work of journalism, the gravity of which is felt within
the opening paragraphs and photos. Really puts things in perspective, doesn't
it?

------
syntaxing
The advancement on face transplant has been amazing to watch. Especially since
the largely publicized face transplant for the Mississippi Firefighter two
years ago (Patrick Hardison). Does anyone here know how long it takes for the
face to "settle in" where the donor face and patient face start fusing? Also I
noticed that the eye movements on all these transplants have a distinctive
unusual movement to it. Is this a physical limitation where doctors/surgeons
cannot operate too closely in the eye area due to the risk of damaaging the
eye? Or is does it take a couple years for the muscles near the eye to adapt
to the new face?

~~~
UI_at_80x24
To echo what another poster already said, it's all about the nerves.

Several years ago I tried to kill myself by cutting my neck. I sliced below
the jaw-line from my ear to my chin. I still have "numb areas" after 3+ years,
and there aren't really any muscles there that need to be controlled. It's
very easy to imagine not ever getting full facial muscle control back in her
situation.

~~~
forapurpose
I'm very glad you are here to tell us about it.

------
qiqing
Notable call-to-action from the article:

> Adrea Schneider’s organs and tissues have helped at least seven people.

> From halting infections to curing blindness, a single donor can save or

> improve more than 70 lives. Enroll to donate organs, eyes, and tissues

> at RegisterMe.org and marrow at BeTheMatch.org. To donate a kidney

> or part of a liver or other organ while alive, contact a transplant center.

~~~
philjohn
The UK is soon to be moving to an opt out for organ donation (with the usual
caveat that family members can still refuse to allow it), I was saddened to
see some people spinning it as "the government wants control over my body"
when all it takes is a simple checkbox to say you don't want to be a part of
it.

~~~
labbyz
Make it opt-in. Then you give control away to the government deliberately.

All it takes is a simple checkbox to say you want to be a part of it.

It should be easier to receive mailing list spam, than it is to sign over your
body, but opt-out makes it the other way around.

Forgetting (or being unwilling to be forced) to sign a checkbox does not make
one a willing participant, but an unwitting one. I understand this saves
lives, but then again, lots of unconstitional actions may save lives. No
excuse. No convience.

You, and only you, as an adult, has sovereignity over your body. Opt-out is a
grave breach of this sovereignity. That is the spin "the government wants
control over my body": A violation of your human rights and a government-run
organ market.

~~~
bodas
Bodies are a kind of use it or lose it deal. If you are buried, everything
except your bones and teeth will be eaten. Organ donation is the least of your
sovereignty problems.

~~~
ars
The problem people have with organ donation is that it requires the donor to
still be alive, but without brain activity, when they donate.

So it boils down to what do you consider death?

~~~
titusjohnson
Do you have any links regarding the need to be alive? My impression is this is
only true for some transplant types.

~~~
ars
Google: "organ donation cardiac death".

> My impression is this is only true for some transplant types.

Other way around. Organ donation after cardiac death is only possible for
certain types, and only in very limited circumstances.

Hopefully things will improve because it would vastly increase the number of
possible donations. The vast majority of people can not donate organs even if
they want to - it requires a very specific type of death (brain death where
the body is just fine).

Many people also have religious and ethical problems with it because you are
killing someone. Obviously that depends on how they define death, which has no
commonly accepted definition, the current definition "brain death" was set
that way to make organ donation possible, and that makes many people uneasy.

------
monkeynotes
She's pretty brave to go through all of that, so much pain in so many ways.

I think had this been my own situation I'd rather have some kind of plastic
prosthetic than someone else's face and a lifetime of rejection treatment. I
just don't think my psychology could handle the physical and emotional pain of
accepting another face. That said, I know little about living with the
alternative that she was dealing with.

Crazy story.

~~~
toast_coder
I don't think plastic is an option. There isnt an artificial material that can
replace skin.

The options are to keep the mangled face, or replace.

~~~
slfnflctd
I think monkeynotes was more talking about a high quality mask. After this
article, I'm thinking I would feel the same way. I'm not sure I could handle
going through this process, especially all the unending maintenance required
afterward.

I hope Katie and her family are continually keeping in mind how they are
helping push medical science forward and benefiting future patients. That's a
big part of the value of these efforts, in my mind.

~~~
PeterisP
It's not about cosmetics that can be tackled with a high quality mask - it's
also about all the practical functions that the face needs to tackle; e.g. the
lip musculature necessary for speech and eating, eyelid/tearduct function, and
nose breathing. If you're missing lots of tissue from your face, you _will_
need a transplant (inevitably high maintenance) of some kind, so it might as
well be a full-face one.

------
radicaldreamer
Wow, this piece was powerful and unexpectedly emotional. Really puts into
perspective adversity and hope.

------
GW150914
Holy shit. It’s incredible that someone could survive such extensive damage,
never mind recover in any way. I’m impressed by her fortitude and the skills
of her many doctors. At the same time, I would rather die than go through all
of that myself. I guess she’s just a stronger person, much much stronger.

------
sytelus
_While the two were outside talking about how upset Katie was, she went into
the bathroom, put the barrel of Robert’s .308-caliber hunting rifle below her
chin, and pulled the trigger. When Robert kicked in the locked door, he found
his little sister covered in blood. “And her face is gone,” he recalled_

Who puts a loaded hunting rifle in so accessible way in their homes?

~~~
trcollinson
Maybe I’m missing part of the article but who says it was just laying around
loaded? It obviously wasn’t locked up as well as it could have been. But I’m
sure she knew how to load the rifle and pull the trigger. It’s not a
complicated process at all.

------
saudioger
I'd like to think I could be as strong as this woman, but I honestly don't
know if I could be... I don't know if a person should have to be.

I hope the procedure can manage to give her some small semblance of peace.

~~~
jfsid
The article alleged they weren't going to work with her if they deemed her at
risk of trying to take her life again. I think it's anyone's guess what is
going on in her mind, given that expressing any doubt her is worth living
would result in future refusals to help (such as in the event her body rejects
this face).

As someone who sincerely has every intention of "being strong", my current
behavior is indistinguishable from the times I was pretending to be strong due
to the huge cost of behaving otherwise.

------
VectorLock
As impressed as I am by the facial transplant I think I'm even more in awe of
the fact that they were able to save her life after sustaining such a grievous
maxillofacial and cranial injury. I can't even fathom the amount of intensity
it probably took to keep her among us.

------
mavdi
Christ what a difficult story. A single moment of pure stupidity and madness
can ruin ones life and the lives of loved ones instantly.

------
PAClearner
woah-also this really like-viscerally demonstrates the destructive power of
rifles.

~~~
casefields
Yeah, so destructive she took a head shot and lived.

~~~
mmirate
She lost her eyesight and several years of her youth; it's a safe assumption
that many HN readers, my future self included, owe significant chunks of their
careers and lives (pardon the redundancy) to those two things.

She - like a mentally-vegetative senior citizen on life-support - reminds us
how little the word "alive" really means, by itself.

------
pcvpcvpcv
Amazing story, incredible work by the doctors.

The second level of the story is exposing the all-too-common issues of
American society: Katie's rushed suicide attempt using her brother's unsecured
rifle and the donor being an amphetamine overdose. It's horrifying but at
least it fits together this time.

------
grillorafael
Does anyone know why most (if not all) face transplant have such wide jaw line
?

~~~
da_chicken
I would guess that it's swelling and scar tissue buildup (fibrosis) from the
surgery and ongoing autoimmune response. As far as her immune system is
concerned, the grafted face is a foreign invader. She's going to take anti-
rejection drugs her whole life and she will always be at risk for total
rejection in the future.

~~~
specialist
I can confirm that cyclosporin and prednisone, two immunosuppressive
medications, make the patient bigger.

~~~
philjohn
And prednisone has a common side effect called moon face, which is pretty much
this.

------
realo
Question: can the same organ be donated more than once?

Imagine a "face" that would exist for many generations, given from one to
another multiple times...

Not sure what to think of that.

~~~
azernik
Not yet.

They mentioned that the donor had to be from someone of a similar age; these
things deteriorate over time, like the rest of our bodies. Even for internal
organs, younger is better.

------
msallin
Sorry to be that guy, but is there a text-only way to read this article? I
just can't handle the images, they're haunting me.

~~~
ars
Ctrl-A to select all, Ctrl-C to copy, then copy into an editor that does not
support images, only text.

------
DoctorOetker
> The face surgeons go first. But since organs are precious and face
> transplants are not lifesaving, _if the donor’s condition started to
> decline_ , the team would have to abandon its work to allow other surgeons
> to collect the donated organs.

What exactly is meant with "if the donor's condition started to decline"? How
does one monitor the condition of organs in a dead body? What technology is
used to monitor the state of organs in a dead body?

~~~
goodells
I’m only an EMT, but I can try to answer this for you. The organ donor was
brain dead, but the heart continued to beat and a ventilator was used. The
organs would stay perfused with oxygen and nutrients and the surgery would be
performed as if the donor were otherwise alive. Surgery is inherently risky -
risks include spontaneous bleeding or clotting that could abruptly end the
organ recovery. I believe this is the situation they are referring to.

~~~
DoctorOetker
As an EMT do you frequently witness people being pronounced/determined brain
dead? If so what does it look like? I can't imagine an EEG device being
attached to each presumed dead patient to double check? Or is that in fact
what happens to each patient dying in the care of a hospital?

I am very fascinated about the possible technology involved for monitorinng
the state of these organs while the face was being removed. Or am I
overimagining and its mostly heart rate, and blood content (oxygen, glucose,
what others?) ?

Us normal citizens -seldom in contact with death- we must have an
oversimplified view of alive vs dead: atomic (before and after) and monolithic
(the whole person is dead, or the whole person is alive), while we are in fact
multicellular organisms and some cells have more demanding needs to be met
depending on cell type, location in the body, and so on. I can imagine a
failing human body prioritizes the functionality of some organs over others?

In the text they mention that donor side and acceptor side can initiate
communication through the centralized authority, without obligation to
respond, and if they both consent they are allowed to meet each othe as
happened here.

Here they had to request explicit permission for the face.

What happens if there was not enough time for properly removing the face yet
the donor's next of kin try to ccontact the (non-existent) acceptor? Do they
get by policy a "no counterparty response" boilerplate, or are they informed
that in fact there was no recipient due to complications?

~~~
goodells
As EMTs we are trained to provide the best possible care for all of our
patients unless very obvious signs of death are present - brain death is not
something we really consider because that's something the hospital determines.
Obvious signs of death include dependent lividity (blood settling to the
lowest point in the body) and decapitation, among other things. EMTs are not
qualified to make such judgements in the field (outside of a mass casualty
incident and triaging) and opt to be "better safe than sorry" and let someone
with an MD after their name and malpractice insurance worry about making the
final call. I expect the signs and symptoms of someone with brain death would
be indistinguishable from any other apneic unconscious patient without a
pupillary response, but some of those can be saved, so we transport them all.

At the hospital, protocols for determining brain death vary depending on the
institution, but we have more advanced tools than just EEG now. I see a lot of
radiological investigations that measure cerebral metabolism with scintigraphy
- here's an example of what that looks like with a poor outcome (I am not a
radiologist by any means, and I explored this outside of being an EMT) [1].
Notice how the brainstem is dark but the rest of the brain isn't doing much.
Other investigations such as some MRI sequences may prove useful to identify
ischemic insults and damage that strongly correlate with poor outcomes. Based
on the phrasing of your question, I would point out that these tests would
only be performed on a patient where brain death were clinically suspected
based on e.g. prolonged cerebral hypoxia from a drug overdose... not every
dying patient.

I don't know enough about the medicolegal or surgical side of things to go
into more detail there.

[1] -
[https://img.medscapestatic.com/pi/meds/ckb/59/26659tn.jpg](https://img.medscapestatic.com/pi/meds/ckb/59/26659tn.jpg)

------
40acres
Jesus that was difficult. How the hell did she even survive the gunshot wound?

~~~
mmirate
Looks like she aimed almost completely parallel to her skull, causing the
bullet to expend most of its energy on bone. It barely had any energy left by
the time it reached her brain.

Her choice of aim was likely just the first thing to come to mind, given her
short stature compared to the length of a Remington rifle.

Had she thought on this one iota more, tilted her neck down and placed the
muzzle onto her forehead ... the result would have been very different.

I should also point out that since a bolt-action .308 is just about one of the
worst possible civilian weapons to use for home-defense, and that therefore it
was likely a hunting tool ... there was no excuse for this gun and its
ammunition to be kept in an insecure manner.

~~~
bdowling
The linked article says nothing about the rifle in question being a bolt-
action, Remington or other make, and nothing about how the rifle or ammunition
was stored. Do you have some other source for your information or are you
speculating?

~~~
mmirate
1) Would a civilian-converted Galil battle-rifle be so readily described as a
"hunting rifle"?

That said, the make is irrelevant. What is relevant is that getting all the
muzzle energy and accuracy out of a .308 cartridge so as to make it useful for
hunting, means a rather long barrel, and specifically one about as long as the
M700's barrel.

Also, I'll admit that the rate-of-fire is not actually relevant because you
still don't want to use any kind of .308 cartridge for home defense, because
of overpenetration.

However, Remington's M700 is the most popular civilian-available weapon in the
US, by far, which meets the description of ".308 hunting rifle".

2\. Someone other than the owner, obtained it without authorization. That
means that it was not securely stored.

------
philipodonnell
Content aside, the usability of this layout needs some work. Its very "page-
focused" with each image having a small bit of overlaid text content, but the
breaks between pages are impossible to tell because the actual content only
scrolls a tiny vertical amount and then suddenly changes pages before fading
in the next bit of text. Using page up/down jumps to random spots instead of
to a natural break with the next page/text centered. It takes more then one
entire scroll on my mouse to move less than one page and I found myself
furiously scrolling the wheel just to move through the article at an
appropriate reading pace.

NYT does these kind of scrolling picture stories but at least in those its
long-form content interspersed with images and it scrolls at a "normal" pace
for most of the article.

~~~
eafkuor
> Content aside, the usability of this layout

Come on, do we really need this comment on every post? Especially this one?

~~~
pferde
Yes, we do. You are free to skip any subthread you are not interested in, even
to collapse/minimize it if you have javascript enabled for this site.

~~~
eafkuor
> Yes, we do.

Honest question, why? I just find it slightly inappropriate and not adding
much value

~~~
pferde
Honest question, why do some people like sushi? I hate how sushi tastes, all
sushi restaurants should therefore be closed, as they bring no value to the
world.

------
martin1975
I couldn't read past the first few paragraphs, just killed me. Does the story
have a happy ending?

~~~
puranjay
As happy as you could possibly get in this situation. Katie would be a
"professional patient" all her life, but she can at least go out in public
without everyone staring at her. She wouldn't look normal - perhaps ever - but
with a scarft and some glasses, she'd melt right into any crowd. Which is a
mighty achievement.

------
iamjk
This is the most inspiring thing I've seen in a long time. Humanity is
awesome.

------
foobaw
This is an amazing story. I wonder how many years it will take until we can
fully reconstruct a face kind of like Elysium (movie) style.

------
puranjay
This is an overwhelming story. I'm awed, amazed, and filled with a strange
sense of almost religious reverence for the surgeons' work, the family's
struggle, and the gumption it must take to endure the suffering. Just wow.

------
WC3w6pXxgGd
If I'm ever in this situation, I hope somebody just Million Dollar Baby's me.

~~~
robbomacrae
Did you possibly mean Six Million Dollar Man?

~~~
egonschiele
Someone pulls the plug in the movie Million DOllar Baby.

------
PunchTornado
They didn't mention in which state was the donor before her grandmother agreed
to donate her face. Was she already dead from the overdose? Did they just take
the full skull to the hospital?

~~~
waylandsmithers
I think it mentioned that she was in a coma when the grandmother made that
decision.

A fascinating part of this is considering whether I as an organ donor would
want my face continuing to exist on someone else after my own death.

~~~
52-6F-62
After this story I'd personally make it a given for me. I've been an organ
donor since I could first give the okay, but take whatever the hell you need
from me and as much as you can salvage if I've died.

~~~
throwaway5752
I wish that in all of these stories that the donor would be celebrated as much
as possible. It's extraordinary how such a trivial gesture (like you: strip
mine me when I'm gone, I've got no more use for it...) can have have - without
exaggeration - life-and-death existential impacts on so many people. Easiest
way to be a hero.

ps: if you're reading this and are not signed up as an organ donor, please
consider taking a minute to do so right now: [https://www.dmv.org/organ-
donor.php](https://www.dmv.org/organ-donor.php)

------
Markoff
isn't she too young for transplant, are the bones and other parts completely
settled at such age? in the end of article they mention eyes transplants, is
she blind currently? what is success rate of these have transplants and what
is plan B in case of rejection, can they keep the face and just suppress
reaction or it gets that bad that face must be removed? and during the suicide
attempt she blew only face without parts of brain? it's not clear from 3D
image

~~~
monkeynotes
Apparently her brain was exposed.

[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/suicide-survivor-becomes-
younge...](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/suicide-survivor-becomes-youngest-
face-transplant-recipient-in-u-s/)

------
abhchand
That photo of a face just lying on the table disturbs me...

~~~
erikig
Likewise. I'd never have expected to say this about a NatGeo article but a
warning as to how graphic the pictures were would have been helpful

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tonetheman
That is amazing.

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jdalgetty
chilling

