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First Face Transplant

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the doctors-facing-off dept.

mriya3 writes to tell us the BBC is reporting that surgeons in France have performed the first ever face transplant. The medical team, led by Jean-Michel Dubernard, transplanted live tissue to a 36-year old woman whose face had been destroyed by a dog. From the article: "It has been technically possible to carry out such a transplant for some years, with teams in the US, the UK and France researching the procedure. [...] But the ethical concerns of a face transplant, and the psychological impact to the patient of looking different has held teams back."

8 of 446 comments (clear)

  1. Ethical concerns? by Eric+Smith · · Score: 5, Insightful
    What ethical concerns?

    A live person is missing a face. A dead person doesn't need theirs any more. Where's the problem?

    And how could the "psychological impact" be worse than not havin a face? The patient is going to "look different" no matter what is done.

    1. Re:Ethical concerns? by Chmarr · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah, I thought that was kind-of daft too.

      "Oh, I can live with having a mauled/disfigured/destroyed face, but I CANT live with having someone ELSE's face".

      Yeah... right.... :)

      However, doing the ID thing would be interesting from then on.

    2. Re:Ethical concerns? by Eric+Smith · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The article failed to explain why it couldn't be someone that died very recently (within minutes). In a hospital, there are people dying all the time, so finding a donor that isn't on life support doesn't seem completely impossible. Just somewhat difficult.

  2. I'm confused.. by RapmasterT · · Score: 4, Insightful
    No seriously, what exactly are the "ethical considerations" of a face transplant? What makes it more ethically significan't than a skin transplant anywhere else?

    And the "psychological impact" to the patient of looking different?? Looking different from a hideously scarred accident victim? Isn't that why they want surgery in the first place?

    This seems to me like a story desperately in search of sensationalism.

    1. Re:I'm confused.. by BarryNorton · · Score: 4, Insightful
      No seriously, what exactly are the "ethical considerations" of a face transplant?

      And the "psychological impact" to the patient of looking different?

      It's about having, to some degree, someone else's face.

      This is also why they're at pains to point out that the recipient does not look exactly like their donor.

      Just as people look back and can't understand why people were uncomfortable with the idea of someone else's blood running around their veins, or someone else's heart beating in their chest, so people might get over this idea - you apparently have.

      Have some imagination, though, and see why people have (it's true, and well-documented, not just sensationalism) been creeped out by this idea for decades...

  3. you dont look the same by jmazzi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Even if you got a face transplant, you wouldn't look like the face of the donor. Your bone structure etc is what makes up most of your appearance. Although, you wouldn't like you use to. So I don't see how ethics would really take a roll in this matter.

  4. Re:Government and Health Care by pnewhook · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The same Canada that just voted their Congress out of office?
    Congress was not voted out of office. The opposition got together and forced the government to resign (a vote of non-confidence). This is extremely democratic - moreso than in the US where you are essentially stuck with the guy for four years, unless you actually manage to impeach the guy for something criminal.
    The same Canada that almost killed a friend of mine whose plane was grounded on 9/11, got a stomach flu and almost died in a Canadian hospital while he waited THREE DAYS for a doctor to see him?
    If it was just a stomach flu why didn't he just go to a walk-in clinic? He would have been assessed (for free) and had a prescripion in under an hour. If it was more serious, he would have been referred to a hospital that would then have been notified that he would be arriving and be ready for him.
    The same Canada where people are on waiting lists for years for a basic MRI that I can drive down the street here in the States and get in a mere hours?
    Years? Give me a break. I do agree that the wait time is long, and a huge issue, but it is on the order of weeks not years. Also if it is high priority, then there is no wait time - the scan gets done immediately.
    The Canadian health care system is a mess. I pray I am never doing business in Canada when I get ill.
    Funny, most people I know pray they don't live in the US when they get ill, as a major illness effectively means bankruptcy.
    --
    Tesla was a genius. Edison however was a overrated hack who liked to torture puppies.
  5. Psychological impact? by idommp · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I grew up with one-quarter of my face missing in action. When I was two, doctors removed the upper left quadrant of my face including the eyelids and the skin down to the bottom of my nose. Twenty operations and fifteen years later I finally got working (but not very pretty) eyelids again. The person undergoing the face transplant has already suffered the psychological impact of loosing their original face and the impact of being treated like some kind of monster. The trauma of getting a different face can't possibly be any worse.