World's First Full Face Transplant To Take Place In UK

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Main Category: Cosmetic Medicine / Plastic Surgery
Also Included In: Dermatology;  Transplants / Organ Donations
Article Date: 25 Oct 2006 - 9:00 PDT

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An NHS Ethics Board has given the green light to carry out the world's first full face transplant. The operation will take place within months. The medical team says that even though they have been approached by approximately 30 candidates, no patient has yet been selected.

In November, 2005, Isabelle Dinoire, France, was the first person in the world to receive a partial face transplant. Her lips, nose and chin had been torn off by a dog who was trying to wake her up after a suicide attempt.

Team leader, Peter Butler, expressed delight and relief at the Ethics Board decision. "It had been a long journey, but this is just the beginning, really. The most important part of the process starts now, which is selection of the patients," he said.

The team will need to make a shortlist, and from that select the most ideal patients. When selecting the candidates, decisions will have to be made regarding how they might deal with the psychological impact of having a new face. The plan is to have four patients and operate on them six-months apart. The patients will have to be adults, said Butler.

Butler said the selected candidates would probably have undergone dozens of reconstructive operations. They will be candidates for whom no more can be done. After the procedure, the patients will have to take immunosuppressant drugs for the rest of their lives, to stop their bodies rejecting new tissue.

Butler is the UK's top expert on face transplants, he has been researching the subject for years.

The full face transplant recipient will not look like the donor as he/she has a different bone structure.

-- About Peter Butler
-- Royal Free Hospital

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

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