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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.'
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. Ethical? Ask the people who need this kind of surgery if THEY think it's ethical.
I suspect this procedure would be great for people who have had extreme burns to their face.
One thing to note are the anti-rejection drugs. My uncle whose kidneys both failed, had to get one from my father in the early 90's (91 i think) and had to take anti-rejection drugs. Well, the drugs eventually gave him colon cancer (approx. 10 years of heavy use) and passed away 2 years ago. But, without the kidney transplant he would have never made it past 1992.
It will be a trade off for these people.. potential to live a long life disfigured or a shorted life bearing a new face. Tough call?
MrJynx
It is probably difficult to comprehend the impact major facial disfigurement can have on a person.
Wired quotes a release-form the recipient must sign:
Your face will be removed and replaced with one donated from a cadaver, matched for tissue type, age, sex and skin color. Surgery should last 8 to 10 hours; the hospital stay, 10 to 14 days. Complications could include infections that turn your new face black and require a second transplant or reconstruction with skin grafts. Drugs to prevent rejection will be needed lifelong, and they raise the risk of kidney damage and cancer. After the transplant you might feel remorse, disappointment, or grief or guilt toward the donor. The clinic will try to shield your identity, but the press likely will discover it.
No free lunch...
Seeing bad movies only encourages them. Watch responsibly
Transplanting organs and even external body parts has been an ongoing practice for quite some time. Clearly, they are making small improvements as time goes by and a variety of details have been added as well. But I have to hope there isn't too much research being done into this.
... it goes without saying. And I also recognize the fundamental expansion of knowledge of human anatomy and how it works is also a worthy benefit of the activities discussed in face transplant technologies.)
In my mind (which is a weird place to be at times) I think the future of medical technology is ultimately in regeneration of damaged or missing tissue. In previous medical articles mentioned here, stem cell research has already enabled paralyzed people to walk again and other improvements are just around the corner I'm sure. In addition to that, the research where genetic manipulation of rats have resulted in entire body parts regenerating after having them removed.
Ultimately, this is advanced forms of healing which is where almost everything in the way of research should be directed, in my opinion, since healing is what the medical practice is all about.
(And yes, I recognize the need for disease and cancer research as well
And on an asside, replacing a face will not make one person look like another. For that, you'd have to manipulate the bones under the skin and muscle to really make modifications that make a difference.
WHAT THE HELL? Who would trade burn scars for 50% chance of death, likelyhood of chronic pain, likelyhood of further disfigurement, and no immune system for the rest of their lives?
Self-sourced grafts and reconstructive surgery sound like a much better idea to me, but then I'm not even an orderly, let alone a reconstructive plastic surgeon.
I think this is pretty cool, as long as it isn't used for cosmetic reasons (reconstructive is another thing altogether).
Actually, let me clarify - I don't have a problem with cosmetic surgery whatsoever - as long as people who have cosmetic (non-reconstructive) surgery don't have children.
Nobody wants to be with an ugly person. It's a biological and evolutionary thing. It's wrong to take an ugly person and cosmetically make them beautiful so that someone will procreate with them in the long run, continuing to propagate bad genetic material in the species. It's dishonest and dangerous to society.
I don't have anything against ugly people. I'm a very ugly person myself. It's not like I think we should be executed or anything. I just don't think we should breed.