September 19, 200619 yr Woman has first face transplant Surgeons operating The operation lasted several hours Surgeons in France have carried out the first face transplant, it has been reported. The woman had lost her nose, lips and chin after being savaged by a dog. In the controversial operation, tissues, muscles, arteries and veins were taken from a brain-dead donor and attached to the patient's lower face. Doctors stress the woman will not look like her donor, but nor will she look like she did before the attack - instead she will have a "hybrid" face. This is the first face transplant using skin from another person Iain Hutchison, Barts and the London Hospital Q&A: First face transplant 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. Skin from another person's face is better for transplants as it will be a better match than skin from another part of the patient's body, which could have a different texture or colour. But the ethical concerns of a face transplant, and the psychological impact to the patient of looking different has held teams back. Concerns relating to immunosuppression, psychological impact and the consequence of technical failure have so far prevented ethical approval of the procedure in the UK, though doctors here are fully able to perform transplants. 'Gravely disfigured' The 38-year-old French patient, from the French town of Valenciennes, underwent extensive counseling before her operation. The operation took place over the weekend in Amiens, and is believed to have lasted approximately five hours The French magazine Le Point reports that the tissues, muscles, arteries and veins needed for the transplant were taken from a multi-organ donor in the northern city of Lille, who was brain-dead. The operations were carried out by a team led by Professor Bernard Devauchelle and Professor Jean Michel Dubernard. In a statement, the hospital said the woman had been gravely disfigured in the attack in May this year. She has been unable to speak or eat properly since. It added that the woman - who wishes to remain anonymous - was in "excellent general health" and said the graft looked normal Yes, this article is almost a year old, but it suddenly popped into my head just now. Clearly inspired by the John Travolta movie "Face-off", wherein John Travolta switches faces with hardened criminal Nicholas Cage in order to infiltrate the organized crime industry. Interesting thing to know, yeah? Perhaps I could switch faces with George Bush Sr., infiltrate the White House, and ... steal their priceless gold bars stored under the floor of the dining room! No but really ... What would you do if you could switch faces with someone?! My greatest ambition is to kill every member of the human race.However I am a realist and therefore know that I probably wont be able to.
September 19, 200619 yr Doctors stress the woman will not look like her donor, but nor will she look like she did before the attack - instead she will have a "hybrid" face. Is that because they are using the transplant on the lower portion of her face or because a face transplant would never make you take on the appearance of the donor?
September 19, 200619 yr Can you change your question to What would you do if you could switch*places* with someone?! As if in entire bodies, I dunno, might make for some interesting discussion. As changing faces with someone would be kinda weird..
September 19, 200619 yr Author Ugh .. Whatever. The idea of the thing is still the same. It's an interesting article all the same. My greatest ambition is to kill every member of the human race.However I am a realist and therefore know that I probably wont be able to.
September 19, 200619 yr Did this not happen nearly 1 year ago?! The popularity of any given religion today depends on the victories of the wars they fought in the past. - Me!
September 19, 200619 yr Doctors stress the woman will not look like her donor, but nor will she look like she did before the attack - instead she will have a "hybrid" face. Is that because they are using the transplant on the lower portion of her face or because a face transplant would never make you take on the appearance of the donor? The latter, I think. Because a person's underlying jaw and bone structure is different from anothers, the superficial tissue is never going to look the same on any two people. Yes, I've heard this before. Acinonyx jubatus - binomial nomenclature for Cheetah!10th grade OVER!!!
September 19, 200619 yr Was going to mention the above... Since your facial bone and jaw structure isn't the same as the donor's, you wont have a similar face. You might have some similar features, but they will be distinct. So no, you can't do it like in M: Impossible III where the guy scanned the terrorist's face, made a transplant and wore it, looking exactly equal and fooling the bodyguard. And I don't see what's ethically wrong with it since the donor has given his/her full consent before coma/etc... Obviously she will have psychological problems even after years, it will be probably very hard to get used to a whole new face even you can't recognise.
September 19, 200619 yr Doctors stress the woman will not look like her donor, but nor will she look like she did before the attack - instead she will have a "hybrid" face. Is that because they are using the transplant on the lower portion of her face or because a face transplant would never make you take on the appearance of the donor? The latter, I think. Because a person's underlying jaw and bone structure is different from anothers, the superficial tissue is never going to look the same on any two people. Yes, I've heard this before.Yes, that sounds right, to look like the donor you would need to have you bone and muscles altered to the same size and shape as your donors, which would be incredibly hard. EDIT: Wouldlvoe to see apicture of this. It says it was a great success so I want to judge it hehe.
September 19, 200619 yr Author You guys suck. Can nothing on the off-topic forum be frivolous and stupid? My greatest ambition is to kill every member of the human race.However I am a realist and therefore know that I probably wont be able to.
September 19, 200619 yr Doctors stress the woman will not look like her donor, but nor will she look like she did before the attack - instead she will have a "hybrid" face. Is that because they are using the transplant on the lower portion of her face or because a face transplant would never make you take on the appearance of the donor? You would never take on the appearance of the donor because of bone structure.
September 19, 200619 yr EDIT: Wouldlvoe to see apicture of this. It says it was a great success so I want to judge it hehe. http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/1590 ... hiswr7.jpg that was quite recently taken after the operation. i imagine she has more movement in her lower jaw now and is able to close her mouth [Admin edit: IMG tags removed on link since it can be offensive for some users]
September 20, 200619 yr EDIT: Wouldlvoe to see apicture of this. It says it was a great success so I want to judge it hehe. http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/1590 ... hiswr7.jpg that was quite recently taken after the operation. i imagine she has more movement in her lower jaw now and is able to close her mouth [Admin edit: IMG tags removed on link since it can be offensive for some users] When I first saw that picture it sort of made me jump but after looking at it for a few seconds I figure that's really not that bad of a job. It looks like over time It's going to look pretty much normal.
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