Man, 28, receives face transplant

Man, 28, receives face transplant

au.news.yahoo.com

A 28-year-old man has received a face transplant at a hospital outside Paris, the doctor who performed the surgery says.

The 15-hour operation, completed on Friday morning at Henri Mondor Hospital in Creteil, a suburb east of Paris, is the fifth face transplant in the world, and the third in France.

"The patient's face was disfigured by a shotgun blast," the surgeon, Laurent Lantieri, said.

"The patient is awake and is doing well. But it is far too early to say whether the transplant will take," he said, adding that 15 medical personnel took part in operation.

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poor bastard got shot in the face. so he needs a new one.
really this face transplanting business is a bit sensative. it could be likened to stem cell research. publically it seems a little immoral. but at the same time it would be immoral to let a man walk around with no face at all.
what's your take on the subject.

au.news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by spearhead


Why would it be immoral to give him the face of a donor? I hope he will be fine and that his new face will work out just ok. As to stem cells, how great would it be to give somebody his own face back.

reply to post by QueenofWeird


well i think it would be great to give a bloke his chops back.
my question is would be seen as immoral, to the churchies...

I don't think anybody could claim it to be immoral if the person used for a donor had said they are willing to be a donor, but with that being said how shocking would it be if you was to bump into somebody that had received the transplant from one of your family members that passed away.

Perhaps their may be some credence to somebody arguing for the sake of the other family members of the deceased, but primarily I think it's more important the person receiving the donor be given what I'm sure he or she will view as a new chance at life.

Unfortunately, and perhaps inconsiderate of me but I can't help but say I'd be slightly repulsed at the thought of having another persons face, I think I'd rather keep my own regardless of what other people have to say about me. I have no room or right to impose my own view on anyone because nothing so tragic has happened to me.

Really though and ultimately, as long as the poor guy is given what he feels is an improvement and is as happy as he can possibly be in such a hard unimaginable situation, that's all that matters in my opinion.

[edit on 30-3-2009 by MrAnonUK]

Hopefully his immune system won't reject the donor tissue.

Don't know if it's morbid of me, but I wish we could see the before/after photos of his operation! Same as I'd like to know more about the circumstances surrounding the gunshot incident...was it accidental? Was he a victim of a gun crime? Was it self-inflicted, due to a suicide attempt? Or carelessness? etc...

I give the surgeons alot of credit for such a long, prolonged operational procedure to go through, as well as all the assisting medical staff.

Moral? Absolutely, in my op. One of my friends has a 10-yr-old son, born with a severe cleft-pallet deformity...(Where the upper lip is seperated, and pulled upward), and he has undergone two operations for the repair of such a psychologically debilitating defect to live with. He appears much better now, with one more operation to go, till it's closed, and nearly returned to normal! . . . .I am SO proud of him!



[edit on 3/30/2009 by FRIGHTENER]