World’s first non-Travolta face transplant
SURGEONS announced the world’s first face transplant yesterday. A French woman who had been disfigured in a dog attack received a new nose, lips and chin from a donor. The operation reopened a debate on the ethics of facial transplants, which can be psychologically difficult for the patient.
Professor Jean-Michel Dubernard, regarded as the most eminent surgeon in France, led the operation on Sunday and Monday and was said to be delighted at the outcome. The 38-year-old patient is expected to stay in hospital for several weeks in case of infection or rejection of the donor tissue.
The partial face transplant included muscles and blood vessels from the donor, who had died at a hospital in the northern French city of Lille. Scarring of the recipient was minimised by running grafts along the edges of the nose and “naso-labial groove� between the lips and nose.
