Face Transplants

[robby]

I was waiting in the barbershop today, and going through the magazines. It seems that Popular Mechanics now reports on medical research, and I read an article on face transplants.

Up until now, when doctors needed to do major facial reconstruction on accident and burn patients, they would remove tissue from another area of the patient's body, and graft it on to the face. They ended up with a mask-like effect because the tiny nerves and muscles that make an expressive face could not be grafted on.

But now, surgeons can remove the entire face from a donor body and replace the patient's damaged face. They cut off your old face, replace it with the new one. It takes about 14 hours of microsurgery, and doses of anti-rejection drugs.

Comments

[priscilla-trash.livejournal.com]

Thats creepy!

[robby.livejournal.com]

What if someone you knew died, and later you saw someone else walking around with his face on?

pure science fiction!

[pookiedrawers.livejournal.com]

I think there was a movie about this with Peter Cushing, from the 60s.
This seems like it'd be mainly the new skin draped over the old face. So the nose, mouth and eyes would be the original patient's.. but maybe new lips could be put on.

You never believe me!

[robby.livejournal.com]

Some of the most stunning advances have been in medicine. Doctors have perfected microsurgery and tissue transplants, and have made a great leap forward. They replace the entire face, and connect the tiny nerves, muscles and blood vessels. This allows the transplanted face to have the expressive capability of a natural face.

Re: You never believe me!

[pookiedrawers.livejournal.com]

ok, yes but what I'm SAYING is.. it's going over the existing person's bone structure so it's bound to look different. Or do they cut off the nose and stick that on, too? The eyeballs? We have to define "face" here.

[robby.livejournal.com]

It's my understanding that the face is entire and complete, nose, lips, eyelids.But you're right, that the underlying bone structure will affect the finished look of the face. It may not be recognizable as the face of the donor after it is transplanted.

One issue they mentioned is that it will be difficult to get donor faces. They polled medical professionals that are overwhelming sympathetic and willing to donate organs, but only a small percentage said that they would donate their faces.

I don't blame them

[pookiedrawers.livejournal.com]

it's definitely weirdsville! Still... in a way, why not...