Aaron James says he now finds beauty in the everyday and appreciates life like never before (Photo: NYU Langone Health)
The recipient of the world’s first full eye and partial face transplant is doing “amazingly” well more than a year after his groundbreaking surgery, doctors at NYU Langone reported in a detailed study. Aaron James, 46, a veteran from Arkansas, says he now finds beauty in the mundane and appreciates life like never before.
His miraculous transformation has helped him be able to taste and enjoy solid foods again and even smell with his nose, abilities he lost in an accident in 2021 while working as a high-voltage power line installer. “I’ve been given the gift of a second chance and I don’t take a single moment for granted,” James said in an interview with The New York Post.
Doctors say the deadly 7,200-volt shock shattered Aaron’s face and, despite multiple reconstructive surgeries, he still had extensive injuries including the loss of his left eye, his entire nose and lips, his front teeth and chin down to the bone.
Aaron’s eye and face surgeries lasted 21 hours.
A health team at NYU Langone has conducted a new study to review their progress. The study was published in the journal Journal of the American Medical Association Earlier this week. “Our discoveries over the past year mark promising initial results, laying the groundwork for future advancements and ongoing research,” said senior study author Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, director of the Face Transplant Program and chair of plastic surgery at NYU Langone. “We are truly amazed by Aaron’s recovery, with no rejection episodes,” said Rodriguez, who led the surgical team for James’ transplant. “Our methodical approach to the matching process, ensuring Aaron received the most favorable donor, coupled with our unique immunosuppression regimen, has set the standard for eliminating and avoiding early rejection episodes.”
In a 21-hour surgery in 2023, a surgical team at NYU Langone Health transplanted Aaron’s entire left eye and part of his face from a single donor. The surgery involved a team of more than 140 surgeons, nurses and other health care professionals.
Aaron’s eye has not yet regained vision.
So far, Aaron has not been able to regain vision in his eye, but researchers are hopeful that he may one day be able to see through it again. The donor eye maintains normal pressure and blood flow and has maintained its size, unlike donor eyes in animals, which often shrink after transplants.
Tests have revealed that Aaron’s transplanted eye has an electrical response to light, indicating that the eye’s light-sensitive nerve cells survived the implant. This gives hope that future whole-eye transplants could one day restore vision, doctors said.
The face transplant was a success
Aaron’s new partial face came from a donor in his 30s, who also saved three other people by donating his kidneys, liver and pancreas, according to the New York organ procurement organization. Lives in NY.
In the transplant surgery, the team transplanted the left eye socket, including the orbital bones, as well as the nose, left upper and lower eyelids, left eyebrow, upper and lower lips, and underlying bone segments of the skull, cheeks, nose, and chin.
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