Full Face Transplants No Longer Science Fiction

Reuters / ABC ^

[RCW2001]

Nov. 27

— By Ben Harding

LONDON (Reuters) - Full face transplants are no longer science fiction fantasy, a leading surgeon said on Wednesday. They are technically feasible but ethically complex.

Peter Butler from London's Royal Free Hospital called for a debate on the ethics of such an operation made possible by new drugs that stop the body's immune system from rejecting a transplanted face.

"It is not 'can we do it?' but 'should we do it?"' Butler told the BBC.

"The technical part is not complex but I don't think that's going to be the very great difficulty ... The ethical and moral debate is obviously going to have to take place before the first facial transplantation."

The British Association of Plastic Surgeons holds its Winter meeting Wednesday and will discuss the microsurgical procedure, which could give new skin, bone, nose, chin, lips and ears from deceased donors to patients disfigured by accidents, burns or cancer.

But surgeons could have trouble finding enough willing donors. Butler said his survey of doctors, nurses and members of the public showed most would accept a face transplant but few were willing to donate their own after dying.

Butler said one of the possible techniques would see a "skin envelope" of fat, skin and blood vessels transplanted onto existing bone, leaving patients with many of their own features.

But in an echo of the sci-fi thriller "Face Off," another more complex procedure would transplant underlying bone as well, so the patient would end up resembling the donor.

In the Hollywood blockbuster, Nicolas Cage plays a master criminal who swaps faces with his nemesis, John Travolta, using laser technology.

Despite a number of ethical concerns, Christine Piff, who founded the charity Let's Face It after suffering a rare facial cancer 25 years ago, welcomed the possibility of face transplants .

She rejected the idea that the procedure would mean people would end up living with a dead person's face.

"There are so many people without faces, I have half a face ... but we are all so much more than just a face ... you don't take on their personality. You are still you," she told Reuters.

"If we can donate other organs of the body then why not the face. I can't see anything wrong with it."

[RCW2001]

I'm confident that a complete list of 'candidates' for such a procedure can be established in short order here on FR... ;)

Of course Chelsea Clinton first comes to mind but of course there are others, prehaps, in more dire need...hmmm?

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT 3rd)

6th-term Democrat Socialist from Connecticut.

[anobjectivist]

The moral and ethics debate stops with the patient and the doctor performing the operation. Nobody else should matter in a free society.

[Clintons Are White Trash]

I would think that the different bone structure of a recipient would change the looks some. Any alterations that would need to be made to fit the bone structure would probably make a difference also.

I can't imagine what some people suffer after accidents that disfigure so badly - I would think they deserve the same chance at normalcy as an organ transplant recipient.

[ClearCase_guy]

If Michael Jackson still had money, he'd get money to this guy and damn the ethics.

[texson66]

My recommendation:

[posterkid]

You mean we have to keep seeing Rosa once she's out of the House? Gah!

[Gary Boldwater]

Actually, head transplants may be more feasible. The neck is a compact structure with everything to hook up in one place. The spine connection is the only big problem.

[Diamond]

You are still you," she told Reuters.

She can say THAT again.

But I'm wondering what that actually would mean in a materialist world-view sense.

Can I get one of those?

Cordially,

[boris]

"She rejected the idea that the procedure would mean people would end up living with a dead person's face."

So I guess Warren Christopher is ruled out as a donor.

--Boris

[boris]

I doubt many asians would participate. Something about "losing face"?

[husky ed]

Shave a dogs butt and teach it to walk backward. What do you get?

[chiefqc]

Who's the slimey pervert beside the cute dog with the same face on his as*??

[RFP]

Related article from London Times Online: Face transplants '18 months' away