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Full Facial Transplant Is One Step Closer

Posted by timothy on from the get-in-line-for-jolie-lips dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "A Chinese medical team led by Shuzhong Guo of the Fourth Military Medical University in Xi'an has successfully completed the first transplant to include facial bone in a transplant on a man whose face was slashed by a bear. The Chinese graft included muscles, nerves, blood vessels, cartilage and skin and included an intact salivary gland, another first. Two years after the procedure, the man can eat, drink and speak, thanks to the gradual fusing of transplanted nerves and muscles with what remained of the patient's own. This transplant together with the another ground breaking transplant last year by French doctors that removed a huge tumor that had completely infiltrated and disfigured their patient's face, now sets the stage for a full facial transplant."

6 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. So what happens in case of rejection? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I can't imagine what it would feel like to get a normal life again after an accident like that, only to have your face literally start falling off ten years later because the body rejected the tissue.

  2. Re:Please americans, go back by Das+Modell · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Slashdot would greatly benefit from disabling anonymous commenting.

  3. Re:Donors by fishbowl · · Score: 2, Insightful

    >the family might have issues with disfiguring the corpse.

    How about spelling this out, early and often:
    The members of the family that disrespect the wishes of the decedent, don't get a share of the estate.

    --
    -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
  4. Re:Donors by Repossessed · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Do Chinese convicts that are executed get a say about being donors?

    --
    Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite (TM)
  5. I was going to submit this. by lantastik · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I didn't because I would have felt like a hypocrite. That is probably not the right word, but when I first saw the pictures, I was all like W.T.F?!? I thought the "after" picture was the before picture until I started scrolling though a little bit (I saw this article on a different site that had more photos).

    The other site also had the photos featured from this article:
    http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5il4qlI62UWuVdQ-az7K0N7OvGEoQD92N0TFO1

    Again, it was a total W.T.F. moment for me. No, not a Worse Than Failure® moment, but you know what I mean. I got a little introspective after that and decided to leave it alone. Like, what if I saw that guy on the street, would I gasp in horror? Would I stare in amazement? I felt like my submitting it would just be a point and stare opportunity. Please tell me I am not the only one that had this thought.

  6. Re:You have to admire the Chinese... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I wonder which Falun Gong member the face came from?