Nation's first face transplant patient shows face

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-06 10:20

In this undated photo from the Cleveland Clinic, the transplant team performs the first face transplant surgery in the U.S. on patient Connie Culp. The 46-year-old mother of two lost most of the midsection of her face to a gunshot in 2004. The initial surgery by the Cleveland Clinic team took place in December 2008.[Agencies]

No information has been released about the donor or how she died, but her family members were moved when they saw before-and-after pictures of Culp, Siemionow said.

Culp said she wants to help foster acceptance of those who have suffered burns and other disfiguring injuries.

"When somebody has a disfigurement and don't look as pretty as you do, don't judge them, because you never know what happened to them," she said. "Don't judge people who don't look the same as you do. Because you never know. One day it might be all taken away."

It's a role she has already practiced, said clinic psychiatrist Dr. Kathy Coffman.

Once while shopping, "she heard a little kid say, `You said there were no real monsters mommy, and there's one right there,'" Coffman said. Culp stopped and said, "I'm not a monster. I'm a person who was shot," and pulled out her driver's license to show the child what she used to look like, the psychiatrist said.

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