Doctor Pushes for First Face Transplant

[WhiteTara]

and the times they are achangin.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050917/ap_on_he_me/face_transplant

<snip>
This is no extreme TV makeover. It is a medical frontier being explored by a doctor who wants the public to understand what she is trying to do.

It is this: to give people horribly disfigured by burns, accidents or other tragedies a chance at a new life. Today's best treatments still leave many of them with freakish, scar-tissue masks that don't look or move like natural skin.

These people already have lost the sense of identity that is linked to the face; the transplant is merely "taking a skin envelope" and slipping their identity inside, Siemionow contends.

<snip>
If all of the candidates back out, "that's OK. It means that we are not ready yet," she said.

But if a transplant succeeds, many people who live in misery could benefit, said Gutowski, the Wisconsin surgeon.

[rodeodance]

1. I hope this works. Many people are disfigured as this is great.

[KamaAina]

2. Ah, so THAT's the real reason Cheney's in the hospital!

so he can trade in this one:



:puke: :puke: :puke:

[Jensen]

4. I hope it works ....he is scarrrrrrrrrrry!

:rofl:

[MuseRider]

3. Wow, good for her.

I hope she is successful. This would be such a good thing for so many people. Some adjust very well to disfigurement but others have such a hard time. It would be a great gift to them to be able to have this treatment.

[bamacrat]

5. That creeps me out,

Just because its a face transplant, listen to it, say it aloud.
FACE TRANSPLANT

[WhiteTara]

12. in the article, it explains how the muscles

and bones actually shape the face, not the skin. But I did think about my face being cut off and I did shudder.

[BSDRebel]

30. having someone else skin on my face

makes my skin crawl...literally :)

EUUUHHHHH.....

[rockymountaindem]

6. This is a little strange to me too, but I hope this goes well.

It would be such a great thing for so many people. I wish everybody the best.

[geomon666]

7. So...let me get this straight.

She's going to switch a persons disfigured face with that of a dead persons face? Is that right? So people who were dead are going to have their faces running around. Oh this is going to be good.

[TheDebbieDee]

10. They've actually performed this procedure in Europe.......

And the face looks more like the original face of the person receiving the transplant than the donor.

It has something to do with bone structure and musculature and the facial expression habits of the receiver as opposed to the donor.

[LisaL]

14. No, they haven't performed this in Europe.

[TheDebbieDee]

16. Correction: I misread the article...............

The transplants were performed on cadavers as part of the testing.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-11-01-ohio-face-transplants_x.htm

The following paragraph from the article mentioned above is what I read regarding the face looking more like the face of the transplant recipient than of the donor:

Siemionow said she wants to start with a relatively simple procedure that involves transplanting only the skin and underlying fat. The patient's muscles shape the face, so the patient would not take on the appearance of the donor.

[liberalpragmatist]

11. No

They're replacing facial tissue from one person with another. The bone structure and whatnot will remain the same and so the person will not resemble the dead person - they'll more closely resemble their original face, although it won't be exactly like it was before.

[UpInArms]

33. will this be a new case of "identity theft"?

Ewwww!

[despairing optimist]

8. Too late. Christopher Hitchens changed faces first.

[mccoyn]

9. Face... Off.

I wish I never saw that movie.

[henslee]

31. Okay, just saw that movie... Sure they swapped faces but didn't

each guy's intimates detect differences in their body, especially when naked? What a stupid film.

[Boomer]

13. What happens if a transplant fails?

So you remove someone's face, replace it with another, and then your body rejects the graft?

The result sounds any more horrific than the original problem.

[LisaL]

15. Yea, that would be a bummer.

I think this is why the procedure haven't been done yet. Because it's not medical necessity like kidney transplant, for example. Is it worth the risk of death to do something that is cosmetic? To some people, it obviously is.

[Hotdiggitydog]

20. Imagine someone wanting a new face....

Before and after damage done by a drunk driver...

[kestrel91316]

26. She sure needs the help of a competent reconstructive surgeon............

[WhiteTara]

32. wow. She would be a physically good

candidate for full face transplant. What a tragedy for her.

[WhiteTara]

18. takes a special patient to be able to face that

nightmare.

[bmbmd]

17. Medical science has known for years that face transplants

were the only hope to cure Ed Zachary Disease.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

24. Paging Doctor Chang.

[Buns_of_Fire]

19. Amazing. This many posts, and no mention of replacing boosh's* face

with a horse's ass.

I think everyone here has exhibited exceptional restraint. Good for you! :thumbsup:

[ElectroPrincess]

22. Waaaah! You Funny.

I know it sounds contrived, but beautiful people become "ugly to me" if their personality sucks. It's almost as if I don't notice their physical beauty and am only reminded of it when new people exclaim about their ideal features.

You can extrapolate that to "dear leader" ... there's no need for an actual face transplant for The Chimperor, because every time I see his face, either a vision of "Alfred E. Newman" or "a horses ass" is what I immediately visualize. That's a natural reaction to a person comes across as THAT SELFISH AND CAUSTIC.
--------

Best of wishes to those who would genuinely benefit from such an invasive procedure. If truly possible that would be a Godsend to many suffering individuals.

[Buns_of_Fire]

23. Oh, I agree most wholeheartedly

If this can alleviate the suffering of outwardly-disfigured people, I'm all for it.

Unfortunately, there's not much hope for inwardly-disfigured people. Like the boosh* clan and their supporters/worshipers.

I apologize to anyone and everyone who might have been offended by my offhand/smarmy comment (it's my nature, what can I say?).

If the procedure offers hope for anyone, I say: Go for it. And Godspeed. Remember, the true measure of anyone's beauty has always come from within, not from without.

[Doctor_J]

21. I'd like to try it

I have been trying to get close to this one woman I know. Maybe if I could get Brad Pitt's face...

[Boomer]

25. Just his face, eh?

The body might come in handy, too. :evilgrin:

[Doctor_J]

29. The body, while not Brad-esque, is OK

I've played competitive sports for the last 4 of my 48 years, so that's under control. The face is definitely more urgent.

[daleo]

27. They should dig up Nixon's face and put it on Bush

The experiment would be a boon to science and politics.

[Horse with no Name]

28. I took care of a patient

That had his face eaten off by a pit bull. Literally.
His nose now sticks to his face with high powered magnets, they made 3 of them so they could change out over the years.
They made his cheeks out of skin from his stomach--and they rolled that up to make his lips. If you look at the skin on your stomach and the skin on your face, you will notice a huge difference.
The surgeon had considered a face transplant at the time(5-6 years ago), but ethically they couldn't do it.
The little boy was 2 years old when this happened.
His first surgery lasted over 45 hours and they rotated 3 surgical teams in and out of the O.R.
This little boy was beautiful before the dog ate him, but he will not ever lead a normal life. Insulated in the hospital, he was okay, but children can be so cruel and this little boy did look like a monster.
I can think if he had a face transplant, this would be his only chance to live a normal life, however, I can't imagine the parent of a young child allowing their face to be removed so that another child could wear it.
This is gonna be a toughie---the good it would do outweighs the bad, however, the ethical dilemma is pretty tough.

On edit: I took care of this boy in the article that Dr. Gutowski was speaking about--I didn't read the entire article til I posted.I remembered the surgery lasting 45 hours--but this article says 28, maybe time and memory of both of us are wrong.:shrug: