First successful full-face replant (self-donor)

In 1994, the world's first full-face replant operation was perfomed by Dr Abraham Thomas, one of India's leading microsurgeons, on nine-year old Sandeep Kaur (India), who had her face and scalp ripped off when one of her pigtails got caught in a threshing machine whilst on her family's farm in Chak Khurd, northern India. Sandeep's mother, Harpal, put the face into a plastic bag, and then took her to Christian Medical College hospital - a drive of over three hours. Dr Thomas was on duty and performed a 10-hour operation to reconnect nerves and bloodvessels. The operation was successful and in 2005, as a 20 year-old-woman, Sandeep was studying to be a nurse.