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February 28, 2013

Lye victim gets new face

By Bridget Murphy Associated Press

BOSTON — Loved ones knew it was her at the hospital when they saw her teeth.

Carmen Blandin Tarleton’s face was unrecognizable after the lye attack, burned away in the frenzy of an estranged husband’s rage.

Nearly six years later, the Vermont nurse is celebrating a gift that has given her a new image following a full facial transplant this month.

Doctors at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston said at a Wednesday news conference that the 44-year-old’s surgery included transplanting a female donor’s facial skin to Tarleton’s neck, nose and lips, along with facial muscles, arteries and nerves.

“I know how truly blessed I am, and will have such a nice reflection in the mirror to remind myself what selfless really is,” Tarleton wrote on her blog Wednesday.

She did not attend the news conference but watched it during a live web broadcast. The hospital said it was not releasing a current picture of her.

Tarleton’s sister, Kesstan Blandin, shared a statement from Tarleton that said she felt “really good and happy.”

“I want to convey to the donor’s family what a great gift they have given to me,” the statement said. “...I feel strong and I am confident that I have the strength to deal with whatever comes my way.”

The Thetford, Vt., woman suffered burns on more than 80 percent of her body and was left blind after her attacker beat her with a baseball bat and doused her with the industrial strength chemical in June 2007.

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