Face-transplant patient reveals herself

Connie Culp, who underwent the groundbreaking procedure in December after her husband shot her four years earlier, praises the medical staff that made her new face possible.

Associated Press

May 5, 2009

Cleveland — Five years ago, a shotgun blast left a ghastly hole where the middle of her face had been. Five months ago, she received a new face from a dead woman.

Connie Culp stepped forward Tuesday to show off the results of the nation's first face transplant, and her new look was a far cry from the puckered, noseless sight that made children run away in horror.

Culp's expressions are still a bit wooden, but she can talk, smile, smell and taste her food again. Her speech is at times a little tough to understand. Her face is bloated and squarish, and her skin droops in big folds that doctors plan to pare away as her circulation improves and her nerves grow, animating her new muscles.

But Culp, a 46-year-old from Unionport, Ohio, had nothing but praise for those who made her new face possible.

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