Face to Face: Surgeon’s memoir details historic transplant

Cleveland - Cleveland Clinic surgeon Maria Siemionow, M.D., Ph.D., who led a team of doctors who performed the first near-total face transplant in the United States in late 2008, has written a book about the ground-breaking procedure.

Her memoir, Face to Face: My Quest to Perform the First Full Face Transplant, details the story of patient Connie Culp, who was severely disfigured by a shotgun blast to the face nearly five years ago.

Surgeons replaced 80 percent of Ms. Culp’s face with a donor’s facial skin and tissue during a 22-hour procedure in December.

Dr. Siemionow is the director of plastic surgery research and head of microsurgery training in the plastic surgery department of the Cleveland Clinic.