face transplant

[graham enzk]

So the French have done the first successful face transplant which is kind of freaky if you ask me. Imagine coming to and looking in the mirror and being another person.
Do you get to choose the new face? You know, “Come in and browse the morgue, see anything you like?”
“Well they all look a bit pallid”
I can’t see any family being particularly happy to have their very recently deceased’s face taken off probably before they’ve even got to say goodbye.

[LesMts]

I don't understand why there is a moral outcry over this. It's basically just a skin transplant and shouldn't be treated as ethically distinct from any other organ transplant. The overwhelming majority of your facial characteristics are provided by the underlying bone and muscle structure anyway, so it's not as if you're going to look like the donor in the slightest.

[samuraisloth]

Originally Posted by graham enzk

So the French have done the first successful face transplant which is kind of freaky if you ask me. Imagine coming to and looking in the mirror and being another person.
Do you get to choose the new face? You know, “Come in and browse the morgue, see anything you like?”
“Well they all look a bit pallid”
I can’t see any family being particularly happy to have their very recently deceased’s face taken off probably before they’ve even got to say goodbye.

surely they would seek the permission from the person (obv before they die) ie through donor cards etc?

im kind of for this i have to say, it could be of huge benefit to someone who has really bad facial burns. Im not all for "i do this in the name of beauty"...but i dont think that this was the intentions of the development of face transplants

[humndislocation]

Originally Posted by LesMts

I don't understand why there is a moral outcry over this. It's basically just a skin transplant and shouldn't be treated as ethically distinct from any other organ transplant. The overwhelming majority of your facial characteristics are provided by the underlying bone and muscle structure anyway, so it's not as if you're going to look like the donor in the slightest.

This is the right answer.

The person getting the transplant is not going to look like the donor, and as said, it could greatly help people that are facially disfigured.

[xglitter-me-upx]

Yeah I don't see the big deal either.

If it's going to improve someone's quality of life then I don't see the problem with it.
And of course they would have to seek permission from the family, just like they can't just take a dead person's internal organs without consent.
Having a disfigurment on the face can make some people spend the whole of their lives shut off from society

They have carried out studies that they say show a transplant is not only physically possible but would have huge psychological benefits for people left disfigured by accidents or burns.


'Many of them have very disfiguring injuries and spend their lives indoors, so for them this is not just life-enhancing surgery, it is lifesaving because it gives them back the chance to rejoin society.'

Weren't people reacting the same when major organ transplants started being performed?

[smokes_quantity]

This all happened last year. I was reading it in Closer or Heat or Now or one of the other menstruation magazines and she got attacked by a rottweiler which left her without the ability to talk or eat :

"When you saw her face, disfigured, missing most of her nose, lips and chin... with difficulty to speak and eat, at that point we doctors decided to improve the quality of life for this person"

I can't understand why people have such a moral objection to this.

[graham enzk]

just to clarify, i'm not against it, i just thought it a wierd prospect.
not being a surgeon or that i wouldn't know about what makes the face look like a certain person but if it's a transplant and not a skin graft are they not using more than just the skin? and if it is just skin do they need to take it from a donors face or will any healthy skin do?
is the term face transplant just more dramatic sounding than what it seems?
as for the bereaved family thing, if the person has an organ donor card the hospital doesn't have to get consent from the family and with time being of the essence they do remove organs on that basis alone.
imagine being told a family member has died then you go along and their face has been taken off as well.
though i would imagine if it became a commonplace routine it would be specified on donor cards wether you were happy for that to happen.

[LesMts]

Originally Posted by graham enzk

just to clarify, i'm not against it, i just thought it a wierd prospect.
not being a surgeon or that i wouldn't know about what makes the face look like a certain person but if it's a transplant and not a skin graft are they not using more than just the skin? and if it is just skin do they need to take it from a donors face or will any healthy skin do?
is the term face transplant just more dramatic sounding than what it seems?
as for the bereaved family thing, if the person has an organ donor card the hospital doesn't have to get consent from the family and with time being of the essence they do remove organs on that basis alone.
imagine being told a family member has died then you go along and their face has been taken off as well.
though i would imagine if it became a commonplace routine it would be specified on donor cards wether you were happy for that to happen.

It's essentially just a skin graft but the skin on your face is a little different in composition than skin elsewhere because it has to react in different ways. It's more pliable and elastic for a start.

[xglitter-me-upx]

Originally Posted by graham enzk

just to clarify, i'm not against it, i just thought it a wierd prospect.
not being a surgeon or that i wouldn't know about what makes the face look like a certain person but if it's a transplant and not a skin graft are they not using more than just the skin? and if it is just skin do they need to take it from a donors face or will any healthy skin do?
is the term face transplant just more dramatic sounding than what it seems?
as for the bereaved family thing, if the person has an organ donor card the hospital doesn't have to get consent from the family and with time being of the essence they do remove organs on that basis alone.
imagine being told a family member has died then you go along and their face has been taken off as well.
though i would imagine if it became a commonplace routine it would be specified on donor cards wether you were happy for that to happen.

I meant consent from the deceased (in the form of a donor card) or from the family if they don't have one. (does this happen?)
I see what you mean though, for them to have to bury their relative without part of their face would be upsetting.

[Wee_rick]

i read this on the bbc news website last night and it said something about the face being donated by a brain dead doner, so techniacly there body is still alive. I wonder how they got concent for it? i mean surely if i was brainn dead and had a donar card, they wouldnt start cutting into me for lungs, heart etc whilst they was still working,,
I know there pretty much dead and all but to me that seems so much more creepy,,