Face Transplant?

I am really going to watch this story. I hope it works out well for the patient and the doctor.
 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051201/ap_on_he_me/france_face_transplant_18

LYON, France - Doctors in France said they had performed the world's first partial face transplant, forging into a risky medical frontier with their operation on a woman disfigured by a dog bite.


The 38-year-old woman, who wants to remain anonymous, had a nose, lips and chin grafted onto her face from a brain-dead donor whose family gave consent. The operation, performed Sunday, included a surgeon already famous for transplant breakthroughs, Dr. Jean-Michel Dubernard.

"The patient's general condition is excellent and the transplant looks normal," said a statement issued Wednesday from the hospital in the northern city of Amiens where the operation took place. Dubernard would not discuss the surgery, but confirmed that it involved the nose, lips and chin

Some considerations:

"The recipient chose to take the risk of the operation failing if the blood vessels become blocked. There's a medium-term risk of the immunosuppressant drugs failing to control rejection of the donor tissue, and a long-term risk of the drugs causing cancers.

"She could be back to square one without a face, needing further reconstruction operations."

Medics have been concerned over whether the side-effects of the the immunosuppression drugs, which patients must take for the rest of their lives, would outweigh the benefits.

The drugs can increase the risk of cancer. Concerns have also been raised over the psychological impact on the patient if the surgery failed.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/12/01/france.face/index.html?section=cnn_latest
 
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE

[url="http://ak.imgfarm.com/images/ap/thumbnails//FACE_TRANSPLANT.sff_AZJM101_20060118163833.jpg"]http://ak.imgfarm.com/images/ap/thumbnails//FACE_TRANSPLANT.sff_AZJM101_20060118163833.jpg[/url][font=Verdana,Sans-serif](AP) Dr. Jean-Michel Dubenards, left, from Lyon, France, speaks at a press conference, while Dr. Bernard...


TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - The world's first face transplant recipient is using her new lips to take up smoking again, which doctors fear could interfere with her healing and raise the risk of tissue rejection. "It is a problem," Dr. Jean-Michel Dubernard, who led the team that performed the pioneering transplant in France on Nov. 27, acknowledged on Wednesday

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060118/D8F7BBU8F.html
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Linda7NJ said:
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE

[url="http://ak.imgfarm.com/images/ap/thumbnails//FACE_TRANSPLANT.sff_AZJM101_20060118163833.jpg"]http://ak.imgfarm.com/images/ap/thumbnails//FACE_TRANSPLANT.sff_AZJM101_20060118163833.jpg[/url][font=Verdana,Sans-serif](AP) Dr. Jean-Michel Dubenards, left, from Lyon, France, speaks at a press conference, while Dr. Bernard...


TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - The world's first face transplant recipient is using her new lips to take up smoking again, which doctors fear could interfere with her healing and raise the risk of tissue rejection. "It is a problem," Dr. Jean-Michel Dubernard, who led the team that performed the pioneering transplant in France on Nov. 27, acknowledged on Wednesday

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060118/D8F7BBU8F.html
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060118/D8F7BBU8F.html
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I read about a guy that had his fingers cut off in an accident. The doctors told him if they reattatched them and he smoked it would make him loose good circulation to the tissue and it would all be for nothing.
Well he smoked and his fingers started dying off and he lost them all.
 
There are those who have been know to smoke through their trach, so this doesn't shock me at all.
 
Classic thread title, though. My hat's off to Linda.
 
Isn't this woman a pioneer and sort of a guinea pig? A few months ago there were reports of doctors saying that this procedure really isn't even ethical right now and is very iffy. I say that she deserves even more care and help to quit the smoking and manage the stress and pain that she must have endured.
 
She tried to kill herself and her dog ate a portion of her face while she was passed out due to a drug overdose. I don't think that qualifies her as a "pioneer" though! LOL Many doctors didn't think she was a good candidate for the surgery because of her mental problems and the fact that she didn't take good enough care of herself before.
 
Jeana (DP) said:
She tried to kill herself and her dog ate a portion of her face while she was passed out due to a drug overdose. I don't think that qualifies her as a "pioneer" though! LOL Many doctors didn't think she was a good candidate for the surgery because of her mental problems and the fact that she didn't take good enough care of herself before.


I really did not know that. Very interesting. How long was she passed out?
 
blueclouds said:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/01/18/face.transplants.ap/index.html


THIS IS JUST SICK. This woman doesn't deserve any further treatment. It's like the chronic alcoholic that has a liver that's shot AND IS ON THE DONOR LIST yet still drinks. NO WAY. You do purposeful damage to yourself, forget the medical care.
For crying out loud, she's French. They exit the womb with a cigarette in their mouths.
 
Jeana (DP) said:
She tried to kill herself and her dog ate a portion of her face while she was passed out due to a drug overdose. I don't think that qualifies her as a "pioneer" though! LOL Many doctors didn't think she was a good candidate for the surgery because of her mental problems and the fact that she didn't take good enough care of herself before.
The suicide thing was dismissed awhile back--although the other explanation for passing out deep enough and long enough that your dog eats most of your face is that the woman's a hard core alky. Then again, they used to conduct experiments like these on death row inmates (possibly still do) because they figured thery might as well be of some use to society, and if it failed society wasn't losing anyone it would miss. The thinking might be the same here.
 
Jeana (DP) said:
She tried to kill herself and her dog ate a portion of her face while she was passed out due to a drug overdose. I don't think that qualifies her as a "pioneer" though! LOL Many doctors didn't think she was a good candidate for the surgery because of her mental problems and the fact that she didn't take good enough care of herself before.


I agree. I think the doctors were so desperate to move forward with this type of surgery (not saying I have a problem with it under the right circumstances) that they glazed over many of her mental issues to pave the way for the surgery.


Jubie
 
Barely two months ago, the 38-year-old French divorcee received the world's first face transplant and this exclusive photograph reveals the full extent of her remarkable transformation.

Last May, she had a wide, tilted nose, a prominent chin and thin lips. Today, the donated face of suicide Maryline Saint-Aubert has given her a straight and narrow nose, a neater chin and a fuller mouth. Despite the prominent surgical scars, Miss Dinoire and her doctors say they are delighted by the results.

http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,17967407%5E950,00.html
 
She looks great! I hope she gets her confidence back and goes back out into the world.
 
Let's just hope she stops smoking. :( :banghead:

Her face looks great though, looks very natural. Not at all what I expected.
 

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