PDA

View Full Version : Face off!


snowbound
December 2nd, 2005, 08:17 PM
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/12/02/first_ever_partial_face_transplant_produces_marvelous_results_doctor_says/

First-ever partial face transplant produces 'marvelous' results, doctor says

By EMMA ROSS | December 2, 2005

LYON, France --Before her operation, she couldn't chew her food. She had trouble speaking. Whenever she took a drink, most of the liquid dribbled from her mouth. Worst of all, her face was hideous. She wore a surgical mask every time she left her house.

Six days ago, she got a new face.

The results of the daring nose, lips and chin transplant -- the first ever attempted -- were beyond what the surgeons had hoped for. The new face bore an uncanny resemblance to the woman's former face. "Marvelous," one doctor said.

The physicians described the operation in a news conference Friday. Their patient, a 38-year-old divorced mother, who doesn't want her identity known, had been mauled in June by her dog. The Labrador retriever mix, adopted from a rescue shelter, had ripped off the lower half of her face.

Her first look at the transplant came when a psychiatrist gave her a mirror. Unable to speak because of the breathing tube in her throat, the patient wrote a note, "Merci." Thank you.

Then she cried and so did one of her surgeons.


Seems it's causing a stir on the ethical side by the articles and news broadcasts i've seen today on this subject.


snowbound

Longboard
December 4th, 2005, 08:42 AM
Remarkable surgery.

Very melodramatic to call it a "face transplant"; this is manna to the tabloids and can result in stigmatising the patient.

WE use transplants of every possible tissue;
hearts, corneas, kidneys, pancreas, bone, marrow etc, etc.

Better to think of it as a very special type of transplant/skin graft.

I have seen pictures of this poor woman after her injury; dreadful!. Virtually no face below her eye sockets.
I hope she does well. There is a long way to go, she will need imunosuppressives and so on.

Much as I respect him the surgeon involved has a tendency for attracting the worst sort of publicity.

I hope you are all organ donors :)

Regards