Face Transplant

A human face transplant is a controversial and experimental surgical procedure that often uses tissue from a "beating heart donor." Living tissue is harvested from a comatose or recently deceased donor and transplanted onto the face of the recipient.The Lancet: Podcast: Human Face Transplant (PodCast)

French surgeons performed the first simultaneous partial-face and double-hand transplant on a 30-year-old burn victim in April 2009. The 30-hour surgery was the world's sixth partial-face transplant, and was the first to include hand transplants as well.Associated Press: French hospital performs face, hand transplants (April 6, 2009)

In December 2008, the Cleveland Clinic hospital announced it had successfully completed the first "near-total" face transplant in the U.S. on an unidentified patient. Surgeons were able to replace about 80 percent of the patient's face with that of a donor.FOX News: Cleveland Clinic Completes Nation's First...Face Transplant The patient was released from the hospital on February 5, 2009. She and her family have declined all interview requests.FOX News: First U.S. Face Transplant Patient Leaves Hospital

Surgeons who have performed the face transplant operation gave an update on their patients in the British medical journal The Lancet on August 21, 2008. They reported that the transplants were successful but warned that recipients would have to take drugs to prevent their immune systems from rejecting the tissue.Times Online: Surgeons Prepare for World's First... (August 22, 2008)

The content on this page is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please contact a physician for information on face transplants.