Chimp Victim Moved to Face Transplant Clinic

Charla Nash hopes to undergo additional reconstructive surgery

(NEWSER) - Charla Nash, who was mauled and blinded by a friend’s chimpanzee in February 2009, left the Cleveland Clinic yesterday. She “has made great progress in her recovery,” the hospital said in a statement. Nash will continue rehabilitation at a Boston-area assisted-living center and hopes to undergo more reconstructive surgery, the AP reports. In January, the Cleveland Clinic told Nash’s family it could not perform a face and hand transplant. More»

Gunshot farmer gets total makeover

(NEWSER) - A farmer who accidentally shot himself is the first person in the world to receive a full face transplant. The man, in his 30s, is regaining the ability to speak and swallow after receiving facial skin and muscles, and a new jawbone, nose, palate, and cheekbones from a brain-dead donor, the Times of London reports. More»

'I want the nightmares to stop,' says Charla Nash

(NEWSER) - A woman viciously attacked early this year by a crazed pet chimpanzee discussed her ordeal and revealed her ravaged face on the Oprah Winfrey Show yesterday. Charla Nash lost her nose, lips, eyelid—and hands—in the attack by a Connecticut neighbor's chimp. Doctors also removed both eyes because of severe infection. "I want to get healthy. I don't want to wake up with nightmares," she said. Oprah gently lifted a veil from Nash's face to show stunned viewers the damage. More»

Necropsy reveals that he was on drugs, overweight

(NEWSER) - The chimp that mauled a Connecticut woman in February, rendering her blind, had a small dose of antidepressant Xanax in his system, a necropsy has revealed. At 200 pounds, Travis was also severely obese. Police haven’t ruled out criminal charges against the owner, who is embroiled in a legal battle with the victim’s family, the Stamford Times reports. More»

(NEWSER) - The nation's first face-transplant recipient met the public for the first time since her December operation, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Connie Culp, who had been shot by her husband in 2004 and essentially lost the middle of her face, has "progressed tremendously," said one of her doctors at the Cleveland Clinic. Today, Culp can breathe and eat on her own and eventually will be able to smile. More»