Originally published September 28 2005
U.S. doctors prepare for first ever face transplant
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Surgeons in the United States are looking for candidates for the first ever face transplant, which would use tissue and skin from a dead donor's face to reconstruct a person's face that has been disfigured by accident or disease.
Doctors in the US have already carried out the procedure on bodies donated for medical research.
Now the Cleveland Clinic team will choose a patient whose face is disfigured to receive a "new" face from a dead donor.
The recipient would have to take powerful anti-rejection drugs for life, which carry considerable long-term health risks, says the Royal College of Surgeons of England, which formed a working party to look at the issue earlier this year.
The procedure would involve taking skin and underlying tissues from a dead donor and placing them on the living recipient.
The recipient should be able to eat, drink and communicate again through a wide variety of facial expressions and mannerisms.
But it cautioned: "Until there is further research and the prospect of better control of these complications, it would be unwise to proceed with human facial transplantation."
After a year of discussions, the Cleveland Clinic won approval to go ahead with the operation from an internal review board, which included surgeons, psychiatrists, social workers, therapists, nurses and patient advocates.
Surgeon Maria Siemionow and her team will interview five men and seven women as potential candidates for the 8-10 hour operation.
Yet they will have to have enough healthy skin for traditional grafts in case the transplant fails.
Charity Changing Faces said: "There are a great many questions to which answers are needed before this extremely risky and experimental surgery could be considered a viable option for patients with severe facial disfigurements.
"It is our view that today's excellent conventional surgery combined with the very best psychological and social rehabilitation programmes can very effectively enable patients with severe disfigurements to live full and active lives.
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