A Century of Miraculous Transplants

Humans have been attempting organ transplants for centuries: ancient Sanskrit texts refer to Indian doctors performing skin grafts as far back as 3000 B.C., and canine skull parts were transplanted into human heads in medieval times. In 1905, corneas were the first successful organs to be transplanted. Today doctors are able to replace hands, hearts and even faces. On July 26, 2010, a team of Spanish doctors announced the first full face transplant. While doctors had done partial transplants before—Ohio resident Connie Culp had 80 percent of her face replaced in 2009—this is the first full transplant, done on a 31-year-old man identified only as Oscar.

For Oscar, Culp and other transplant recipients, the main hurdle is not in the operating room, but in the real world. Even as surgical techniques get better, it’s still an uphill battle to keep the body from rejecting new organs: Oscar must also wait for swelling to subside before he can blink his eyes. In the last decade, researchers have come closer to inducing immune-system tolerance of new body parts, and patients are having more success staying healthy with their transplants. A look at some of the more miraculous moments in the last hundred years of transplant history.