The New Face Lift

RiotXIX writes to tell us that US surgeons plan on moving forward with their newest experimental medical practice, a face transplant. Doctors have already succeeded in making this practice a reality with cadavers donated for medical research and will soon begin interviewing a shortlist of patients to determine who, if anyone, will be first up for this procedure. From the article: 'The chance it will work is around 50% and experts have expressed safety and ethical concerns about the procedure. The recipient would have to take powerful anti-rejection drugs for life, which carry considerable long-term health risks, says the Royal College of Surgeons of England, which formed a working party to look at the issue earlier this year.'

Comments

Re:Anti-Rejection drugs?

[j-cloth]

Anti rejection drugs aren't just a little pill you pop like your morning Prozak. They are taken to stop your immune system from doing what it's supposed to do (i.e. treat the transplanted flesh as an infection and attack it). Good if you don't want to lose your newly trasplanted face or organ, not so good if you want to be able to fight off a cold or whatever bug your kid brings home from school. Anti rejection drugs are getting better, but they are not trivial.
If the dilema is between the above and a heart or kidney that will keep you alive, then I think it's pretty simple for most people. If it's between this and a new face, I think there is more deliberation to be done than what you suggest.

Re:Anti-Rejection drugs?

[SilverspurG]

I have the feeling that someone that has had a large part of their face burned off in a bad fire isn't going to be too worried about having to take drugs for the rest of their lives

Speaking as someone who does have 3rd degree burns over 40% of his body, including 1/2 of the face and the full neck, I really have to say...

NOT A FSCKING CHANCE IN HELL would I ever go for a transplant from a cadaver. Traditional techniques have been available, and improving, for 30 years which can do a much nicer job without having to take immune blockers for the rest of my life and which use my own skin. There's also just the creepy bit about wearing a cadaver's face... Kinda like Slayer's old tune,"Dead Skin Mask".

The only reason why anyone may volunteer for this is that the doctors involved are (unethically, I might add) attempting to bait patients in by offering the first few operations free of charge. This is such a lowlife technique. How about, instead, we fix the medical and insurance obstacles for people who would like to have genuine reconstructive surgery?

For example, in my case, I can't afford to go for reconstructive surgery even though I actually NEED it. The scar tissue doesn't stretch as I grow, and the mobility of my arms, hands, and neck is severely limited. My waist is the same way. Imagine wearing an ultra-tight girdle 24/7/365 with no chance to take it off, ever. Do you know what that does to digestion after any meal larger than a Triscuit? Can you imagine what it's like to put on weight and not be able to adjust the girdle size? The waist size for my scar-tissue girdle is about a 32-34 (180 lbs). My current waist size is 36 @ 210 lbs. I'm 6'1", I'm not overweight... but I cannot convey to you that daily life is, at best, uncomfortable.

Why don't I go in for surgery? Who will pay my bills for the 30 days that I'm completely incapacitated and the 4 months to relatively complete recovery? Donor sites for skin grafts are EXTREMELY painful and take a long time to heal. My insurance company won't... this is a "preexisting condition" which, according to them, doesn't directly affect my Quality of Life or my ability to do my job.

The problem is not reconstructive technology. The problem is money-grubbing insurance agencies and the predominant wage-slave status of anyone making less than $100k/year.