Jérôme Hamon suffered from Recklinghausen’s disease, a hereditary condition in which benign tumors affect the nervous system. Neurofibromatosis type 1 caused numerous deformities in his face, which also caused a lot of pain. But by removing it, his face was badly damaged.
In the summer of 2010, the man received his first full face transplant, including tear ducts and eyelids. Plastic surgeon Laurent Lantieri took care of the man in a hospital in Paris. The patient couldn’t believe his luck when the transplant of the face of a 63-year-old man turned out to be a success.
In 2015 he told his story in his book ‘T’as vu le Monsieur?’. Then he got into trouble when a doctor prescribed him antibiotics – for a common cold, after all. The medications intended to combat his condition were incompatible with the antibiotics and his new face also began to develop tumors.
“Faceless” in hospital for two months
In 2017, his face began to show signs of a losing battle. The condition of the transplanted material deteriorated noticeably. In November he had to go to hospital because signs of necrosis were visible; his skin turned black because his cells had died. The doctors removed the transplanted material, and the man had to spend two months “faceless” in the hospital while they scrambled to find another suitable donor.
When a 22-year-old man died in early 2018, it turned out that he was suitable as a donor for Hamon. He waited patiently, while his face traveled 100 kilometers towards its new owner. “We were amazed by his courage, his will, his strength in this tragic situation. While he waited, he didn’t complain for a minute. In fact, he was always in a good mood,” says anesthetist Bernard Cholley.
“I was afraid I wouldn’t like this new face, and that would be terrible. But I had to know whether it fits my identity or not,” the man responded afterwards from the Georges-Pompidou hospital in Paris. He still had difficulty speaking since his operation. There wasn’t much movement yet, as his skull, skin and facial features still had to get used to their new covering. A large amount of medication was intended to ensure that the body would not reject his transplant. “But I feel pretty good. Here we are, loving it again. This is me. It’s fine this way.” Plastic surgeon Lantieri also looked back positively on the procedure, a groundbreaking unique event: “This is a milestone for the medical world: we are indeed able to perform a face transplant twice!”
“We were amazed by his courage, his will and his strength in this tragic situation, he was always in a good mood”
Bernard Cholley
Anesthetist
Six years after his second face transplant, Jérôme Hamon exchanged temporary for eternal life on April 16. “He was exhausted,” said Franck Zal, whose firm developed the technology that made the 2018 transplant possible. “It was his dream to be able to work again. He was a book lover, but he had been very tired since that second procedure.” Jérôme’s funeral took place on Friday in Saint-Thégonnec, in the French department of Finistère.
