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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."

4 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. saw a doco on this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Saw a pretty good documentary on this about 10 years ago. Ah, here it is.

  2. You have to admire the Chinese... by bigtallmofo · · Score: 5, Funny

    A Chinese medical team...has successfully completed the first facial transplant

    They will do ANYTHING to ensure that their underage gymnasts can compete in the Olympics.

    --
    I'm a big tall mofo.
  3. Fun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Best thing about a face transplant? Turning up at the donors funeral and making ghost noises.

  4. It's easier for Asians though by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    because they all look alike