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Getting More Face Time
ApharmdB writes "The BBC has a story about the possibility of performing face transplants within the year. Obviously, people are worried about the ethical ramifications, but would someone with your transplanted face actually look like you? Either way, everyone better be careful, or Nicolas Cage may try to steal their family."
This would go great in conjunction with growing human organs and tissue from human DNA.
Imagine having a backup of your own face, just in case you get into a facially disfiguring accident. Instantly, you have your "old" face back.
From the article:
So what happens if your body rejects your face?!?
My Greasemonkey scripts for Digg &
it's the bone that shapes your face for the most part. That's why they can make those clay facial recreations when they find an unidentified skeleton. And that's also why Face/Off was so ridiculous...
There are a couple issues that come to mind rather quickly--
The first being that I believe they may be able to start trying to do this in a year but it would take time to get it to work. And I would hate to see what the failures will look like. I would think that rejection would be a major issue. And the bottom line is they've never done this before- there will be bugs to work out.
The second- is what if they could do the whole deal perfectly? What if you could have some dead persons face?
I picture someone walking in a mall and they see their son who committed suicide a bit back walking by. Or bumping into a lost spouse.
This is a much less than ideal solution. I'm not saying they shouldn't do it- but it does need to be really thought out.
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It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
The article said 120 people were surveyed and asked whether they would allow their own face to be used for a transplant after they died. All 120 said they would not allow it.
WTF?! I think it is disgusting that people would not allow this to happen, or even that they would not allow their own faces to be used. What are they, superstitious? WHat idiots....
I would GLADLY allow my face to be used after my death, except for the fact that my entire head will be resting in a liquid-nitrogen filled dewar soon after my death.
Sig:
Navy nuke sub lifestyle?
Eddie Murphy did an SNL skit on face transplants that was pretty funny. IIRC, it was like a pitch to encourage people to donate their face, and they had an interview with a white woman who had received a black face. It was a riot at the time... not sure how well it would hold up.
OK, so science fiction becomes real life alot; but Eddie Murphy jokes? Too unreal.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
actually, due to natural selection, the human race is getting prettier.. There's been legitimate research to back this up, I was watching about it on TLC.
Basically, good looking people get laid more than the ugly ones.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Hey, these two guys could do with this technology - like now! I can just hear George W's speech.. "We've found that the faces of two international terrorists have been transplicated..."
-- These views are my own and do not represent those of my employer in any way.
So much for facial identification technology at airports. Hell do the hands while you're at it for the finger prints, if you're not planning on living long who cares what the antirejection drugs do to you.
Shop smart, Shop S-Mart.
Of all the reasons to have a transplant, getting a new face might be the stupidest one I've ever heard.
Recently, doctors have begun experimental arm transplants for amputees. The first ever recipient had to have the transplanted arm removed and has said on record that if he'd known then what he knows now, he would have decided against the transplant.
In addition to the risk of rejection, there's the very real danger caused by anti-rejection drugs which suppress the immune system. Scientists believe that immune-suppressing drugs that keep transplant recipients from rejecting their new organs or other items increase their risks of dying from infection significantly. I can't remember the exact statistic, but ISTR that a transplant recipient has something like a one in ten chance of dying within 7 years. Is it worth it to risk your life over a new face? I realize that patients with severe facial damage may want to take that risk, but overall, I'd say it's not worth the risk. Transplants should be reserved for life-saving operations, otherwise the risks are too high.
The issue of how close you'd look to the new face, and how much you'd retain of your old is one which has been discussed regarding a procedure of this level, and while there's a lot of character in the skin tone and fat/muscle distribution, the bony underneath of your skull does hold quite a lot of your features. Surgery on transsexuals to change facial features gives some stunning results - it's playing with the features we have most of our ability to recognise - the sex of a person judged by the face. Simply changing the eyebrow ridge from male to female shaped, and chin/jaw resculpting can drastically alter features, as much as any soft tissue.
For examples, see the photos at;
authentikate.com
cinematter.com
and
genderpeace.com
all who have had this facial feminisation surgery. This is not an example of surgery to make anyone particularly attractive by changing tiny features such as nose size, or a facelift, or lip-plumping, but drastic facial reconstruction, mainly only on the bony features.
Just some info.
As everyone else already noted, you wouldn't look all that much like the person donating anyway. Your facial bone structure would largely determine what it looks like. However, it would help people with scars, or bad acne, burns, or for any other reason that the actual skin on the face is damaged. I see absolutely no ethical problem with this procedure outside of the realm of ethical concerns about transplants in general.
Medical technology today can make substrates sculpted to pratically any shape, to be infused with cells that take over, adopt the shape and absorb the substrate.
Some guys are experimenting with "castless" fracture-healing. They inject a polymer into the damaged area (after reduction and "cleanup", I suppose) and wait until it sets. Bone cells migrate into the polymer, occupy, substitute, and the body then absorbs it. The patient could be walking normally in days instead of a month-and-a-half. Animal trials were mentioned.
If you "3dfax" a face, infuse different parts with appriopriate "-trophics" and seed each with different base cells (muscle, nerve, fat, membranes, x), and then graft the mess onto the patient...
Actually, reconstruction is just a beginning. Extension and "creative adornment" should'nt be much more difficult. Anthropomorphic - or not. Heavy-metal fans, just wait !
On the other hand, imagine Carl Sagans - millions and millions of them !