The first near-total face transplant patient in the United States was a woman. In the 22 hour surgery, 80 percent of the woman's face was transplanted. The procedure was done by a team of eight surgeons at the Cleveland Clinic. The woman was said could not taste or smell and had problem speaking was missing her right eye and upper jaw. After the surgery and with the physical therapy, the woman patient could smell and blink.
Initially full facial transplant could only be considered to patients who are the most disfigured and had exhausted all existing procedures. The patient must be very clear about the risks involved. There is always a possibility that the recipient's body will reject the graft, and the patient may has to take immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of her or his life to prevent rejection of the donated tissues.
Somehow there were mixed reaction about this facial transplants. Peter A Clark, the director of the Institute of Catholic Bioethics at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia said the transplant introduces unnecessary risks for a procedure that is not a matter of life and death.
Other opinion was from Bioethicist Dr. Arthur Caplan, chairman of the University of Pennsylvania's Medical Ethics Department, saying people who are severely disfigured spend most of the time at home and have a high suicide rate. At this point facial transplant could be considered.
The patient reacted positively after the surgery. Although her vision still limited after the surgery, she was happy when she could feel she has a full face.
The woman, which her name was withheld at her request, had given the indication to Dr. Chad Gordon, a fellow at the clinic's department of plastic surgery, that she was comfortable. She also has been speaking to the doctors very slightly. The woman will have to re-educate her facial motion and will require three to six months of nerve regeneration, according to Dr. Maria Siemionow, the head of plastic surgery research at the Cleveland, Ohio, hospital.
Initially full facial transplant could only be considered to patients who are the most disfigured and had exhausted all existing procedures. The patient must be very clear about the risks involved. There is always a possibility that the recipient's body will reject the graft, and the patient may has to take immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of her or his life to prevent rejection of the donated tissues.
Somehow there were mixed reaction about this facial transplants. Peter A Clark, the director of the Institute of Catholic Bioethics at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia said the transplant introduces unnecessary risks for a procedure that is not a matter of life and death.
Other opinion was from Bioethicist Dr. Arthur Caplan, chairman of the University of Pennsylvania's Medical Ethics Department, saying people who are severely disfigured spend most of the time at home and have a high suicide rate. At this point facial transplant could be considered.
The patient reacted positively after the surgery. Although her vision still limited after the surgery, she was happy when she could feel she has a full face.
The woman, which her name was withheld at her request, had given the indication to Dr. Chad Gordon, a fellow at the clinic's department of plastic surgery, that she was comfortable. She also has been speaking to the doctors very slightly. The woman will have to re-educate her facial motion and will require three to six months of nerve regeneration, according to Dr. Maria Siemionow, the head of plastic surgery research at the Cleveland, Ohio, hospital.
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