After 22 hours and a revolving door of 30 doctors, the first actual face transplant has been deemed a success.
While partial face transplants have been a success, this case is the first “Full Face” transplant. A man had his jaw, nose and other parts of his face blown off in a shooting accident. He was unable to swallow or breathe properly until now.
1. Patient lost jaw, nose and other parts of his face in shooting accident.
2. Donor’s facial skin, muscles, nose, cheekbones, teeth and jawbone used to rebuild patient’s face. Metal plates used to support new facial structure, which included reconstructing the roof of the mouth.
3. Donor’s nerves, blood vessels and skin connected to patient. Patient will have to take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of his life.
Source: Vall D’Hebron Hospital, Barcelona
This full face transplant is a crowning achievement in science. It’s not perfect, the patient will have to take Anti-rejection Drugs the rest of his life. But I think Hollywood will start paying attention to this, since most of it’s over-plasticized celebrities may want their old faces back someday.
