Cleveland, December 17: Surgeons at a clinic in Cleveland, Ohio replaced 80 percent of the face of a woman, who was so unhappy with her profile that she willingly agreed to risk her life to change the way she looks. Her face was replaced with that of a dead female cadaver in a surgery that is sure to ignite a debate regarding the compromise of ethics in such medical procedures.
The extensive facial transplant was the first surgery of its kind in the United States and the fourth in the world. Only two such operations have been done in France and one in China.
The world's first face transplant was carried out in France three years ago, on Isabelle Dinoire, who had been mauled by her dog. Surgeons used donor tissue to replace her nose, mouth, lips and chin. The lady has said she is satisfied with the results.
The other surgery was on a Chinese farmer who was mauled by a bear while trying to protect his sheep, and the third on a French man who had become disfigured due to some genetic reasons.
The patient's name and age have been kept undisclosed; the hospital said her family wanted the reason for her transplant to remain confidential. A news conference has been scheduled for Wednesday, before which the authorities would not provide any details.
Dr. Maria Siemionow, the plastic surgeon in a Cleveland Clinic, who performed the surgery is well known among microsurgery specialists; colleagues and others from the field were quick to commend her for the achievement.
Doctors believe that face transplants would become routine in coming years.
"We're on the threshold of a whole new way of correcting defects," said Dr. Warren C. Breidenbach of the University of Louisville.
"Those who suffered extensive damage to their faces would forever be socially crippled in a society that appears to value beauty above all other human characteristics," Siemionow wrote in a memoir titled ‘Transplanting a Face,’ published last year. The lady is just trying to help those hindered by poor physical appearance.
Following a face transplant, one does not actually look like the dead man, whose face he receives. After swelling recedes, the patient will not look exactly like the donor. "You look more like a cousin" of the donor, said Dr. James Bradley, a professor of plastic surgery at UCLA Medical Center who has seen several presentations by Siemionow at research meetings.. "The bone structure is your own, but the skin is from another person."
The most crucial step in the procedure is to prevent the rejection of the new face by the body’s immune system. Immunosuppressive therapy may have to be carried out for life after such transplants.
Besides, some experts also warn of possible psychological side-effects which may include remorse, disappointment, or grief and guilt towards the donor.
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