Full Face Transplant
Posted On: December 22, 2008 Author: The Office of Dr. Stuart Linder Posted In: Home
Recently, at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, a woman underwent an amazing near total face transplant, which included 80% of her face, using donated female cadaveric tissue in a 22-hour surgery. This is considered the first face transplant in the United States of America and four have been performed throughout the world in the past.
The transplant included bones, skin, muscle, nose and blood vessels. She received a reconstructed total nose, including sinuses, the upper jaw and dentition. The patient had had multiple surgeries; however, still had a horribly disfigured face and as a result the near total facial transplant was their only hope.
The tissue was given to her as a gift through the General Organ Donation Banc, according to Life Banc, which is Oregon procurement group in Northeast, Ohio. This was an extraordinarily risk operation realizing that the patient could end up with severe complications and must be immunosuppressant drugs the rest of her life in order to prevent her own body from rejecting the donated parts.
The patient, according to the Cleveland Clinic surgeons, is doing quite well. Her name and photographs have not been release at this time.