First full face transplant patient makes first public appearance.
Posted in General on July 26, 2010
The world’s first full face transplant patient made his first public appearance today in a news conference in Spain. The patient, who had suffered extensive facial injuries in an accident, underwent a 24 hour surgery in March that involved transplanting the facial skin, muscles, nose and nasal support structures, palate, maxilla, and mandible. Previous surgeries done in France and the U.S. were partial facial transplants. Facial transplantation is an extremely challenging operation from a technical standpoint; however, the intricacy of the surgery was not the main reason why this operation was not possible in the past. Facial transplantation is now feasible primarily due to advances made in medications that prevent the recipient’s immune system from attacking and rejecting the donor facial tissue.
Nilesh Shah, M.D.