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Jan 26, 2007 8:12 pm US/Eastern
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CBS 2 Exclusive: Uday's Face Transplant
Iraqi-Born U.S. Translator Getting Semblance Of Life Back
MANHASSET (CBS) ―
For two plastic surgeons rebuilding a face destroyed by a bullet runs a distant second to reconstructing a man's soul damaged by the trauma.
"Our sense of who we are is how we respond when we see each other in the mirror, especially in an adult who's whole life was built on the sense of identity of who he was." said Dr. Kaveh Alizadeh of the Long Island Plastic Surgical Group.
CBS 2 first introduced you to Uday in October. The Iraqi-born man worked for the U.S. Military as a translator shortly after the invasion into Baghdad. That upset a Saddam loyalist, who shot him in the face.
"I put my arm like this and he shoot me," Uday said, putting his arm across his face.
Three years later, Uday, whose last name we are withholding to protect his family still living in Iraq, is undergoing surgery to repair the damage. On Friday, a cheekbone structure was implanted to match the normal side of Uday's face.
"Anytime you have a completely normal side of the face our job is tougher because then you're constantly trying to match the normal side, so in a sense it makes it tougher," Dr. Alizadeh said.
Initially while in Kuwait Uday underwent more than a dozen surgeries for his arm and face. Friday's procedure was his second major surgery since being in the United States. He has two more to go, where doctors will fix his badly damaged nose and implant his prosthetic eye.
"Our goal is that at a conversational distance when he's talking to someone they'll be able to have a conversation with him and at least have a semblance of a normal appearance," Dr. Alizadeh said.
Giving back to Uday the life he once had seems like the least that should be done, considering he gave up so much more for our country.
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