Lye victim gets new face via transplant

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

Carmen Blandin Tarleton’s face was unrecognizable after a lye attack, burned away in the frenzy of an estranged husband’s rage. Nearly six years later, the nurse is celebrating a gift that has given her a new image after a full facial transplant this month.

Doctors at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston said Wednesday that the 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, 44, wrote on her blog Wednesday. The hospital did not release a current picture of her.

The Thetford, Vt., woman suffered burns on more than 80 percent of her body and was left blind after her now ex-husband beat her and doused her with the industrialstrength chemical in June 2007. Herbert Rodgers pleaded guilty to maiming Tarleton and is serving at least 30 years in prison.

Tarleton has undergone more than 50 surgeries, including skin grafts and work that has restored vision to one eye.

The latest surgery took 15 hours; lead surgeon, Bohdan Pomahac, called her injuries among the worst he’s seen in his career.

He said Tarleton’s appearance will not match that of the late donor’s face.