Five years ago, a shotgun blast from her husband left a gruesome hole in the middle of Connie Culp’s face. Five months ago, she got a new face from a dead woman.
After shooting his wife in the head with the shotgun, Culp’s husband shot himself. He survived and is serving only seven years in prison.
Connie Culp, 46, who was left without a nose, a palate or lower eyelids following a shotgun blast in 2004, received a operation last December that went 22 hours at the Cleveland Clinic in the state of Ohio.
Prior to that particualr operation, Cup went through many skin grafts and was not able to consume solid food, breathe independently or smell. She even required a tube inserted in her windpipe to breathe. The team of physicians replaced 80% of Ms. Culp’s face over the course of a twenty-two hour operation. The doctors had to put back bone, muscle, nerves, skin and blood vessels.
“When somebody has a disfigurement or doesn’t look as pretty as you, don’t judge them,” Culp said, according to Cleveland.com. “You never know what happened to them and you never know what might happen to you . . . . it might all be taken away.”
The procedure is the fourth done globally. French surgeons replaced much of the face of a woman in 2005 after she was disfigured in an attack from her dog. Last year, her doctors said that she recovered slowly and steadily, getting over two episodes of rejection.
Although Culp will still need some more surgerie, largely cosmetic (minor face tucks and the like) - she is now able to smile, taste and smell, abilities she had previously lost.
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