Woah - Doctors complete first US face transplant

[Cyndalie]

Surgeons at the Cleveland Clinic replace about 80% of her face with skin and muscles harvested from a cadaver. It's the most extensive such operation ever performed and the first in the U.S.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedi...,1710951.story

Could you imagine going through something like that? Waking up with a dead persons face?

All transplant patients commit themselves to a lifetime of drugs that suppress their immune systems so their bodies won't reject the donor tissue. Compared with internal organs such as a kidney or liver, the risk of rejection with a transplant involving skin is especially high, Bradley said.

The immunosuppressant drugs have severe side effects and could shorten a patient's life by as much as 10 years, doctors said

That's really incredible.

[Kristine]

Originally Posted by Cyndalie

That's really incredible.

True. The science is is very advanced now and this is very good, because a lot of people can be saved these days. Only cancer and AIDS take their victims with barely no chance of surviving.

[Panky]

I instantly thought of the movie Face/Off when I read the title of the article.

[JoeD]

Willing to risk her life for a new face - pray that she is successful in reclaiming her place...

[adult-help]

It's amazing.