Lye Victim Gets Face Transplant After Horrific Attack Left Her Crippled

Lye attack victim Carmen Tarleton is getting a face transplant, a major step on her long road to recovery after a horrific 2007 attack.

The 44-year-old Tarleton was the victim of a savage attack by her estranged husband, who poured industrial-strength lye over her. The attack left her disfigured, melting away many of her facial features.

Now the lye victim has a face transplant thanks to more than 20 doctors at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, who worked for 15 hours this month to give her a new face.

It’s a new face and a new outlook for Carmen Tarleton.

“My spirits are high and I feel really good and happy,” she said, adding, “This is a momentous opportunity in my life and I want to convey to my donors family what a great gift I’ve been given.”

The face transplant will give Tarleton about 80 percent of her normal function, the Daily Mail reported. Within three months she will regain sensation in her face, and within six months her motor function will start to be restored.

The lye victim said she is grateful for the face transplant and her chance to start a new life.

“I feel great appreciation and gratitude for the tremendous gift I’ve been given,” Tarleton said in the statement read by her sister. “I want to thank everyone at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Their focus and attention is remarkable … I have been so touched and so grateful for all that the community locally and globally have done for me.”

Tarleton has spoken about her attack and subsequent recovery before, and this year plans to release a book called Overcome: Burned, Blinded and Blessed, according to the Associated Press.

Doctors said the lye victim’s face transplant will one day give her full functionality again.