Woman Says 'Merci' After Face Transplant

[hadrons]

LYON, France - A woman who underwent the world's first partial face transplant regained consciousness 24 hours after the groundbreaking operation and her first words were "thank you," one of her doctors said Friday.

The 38-year-old woman, whose identity has not been disclosed, was mauled by a dog in May. She underwent the transplant Sunday at a hospital in Amiens, northern France. The donor was a brain dead woman.

The operation was done by Dr. Jean-Michel Dubernard and Dr. Bernard Devauchelle.

"There were no post-surgical problems," Devauchelle said at the doctors' first news conference. Behind him were projected images of the facial portions that were transplanted — a section of the nose, lips and chin.

"The patient was awake at the 24th hour and ... her first word was 'merci,'" Devauchelle said.


AP Photo: This image released by the Lyon Hospital, Friday Dec. 2, 2005, shows a model...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051202/ap_on_he_me/face_transplant

[Name removed]

1. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[rodeodance]

2. i am glad that medicine is being used for good causes such as this.

[JVS]

3. Yeah. When I clicked on it I thought it would be a heinous story about...

someone who was merely dissatisfied with their old face.

[mimitabby]

4. talk about heinous

what if the transplant fails? that's just too horrible to think about!

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. That's a risk

that apparently this woman was willing take.

I hope the surgery is 'successful' for her.

[pitohui]

7. she clearly had nothing to lose

the lower part of her face was destroyed to begin with, what does she have to lose?

if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but she isn't out anything she had not already lost

if it does work, she can have something of a normal life where she has the possibility of a social life, job, etc

i doubt any here would be willing to go on living w.out part of their face, i sure wouldn't, life is just not worth it if you can't go anywhere because you frighten small children and you have become a horror to those who once loved you

like it or not, homo sapiens is a visually oriented species

[LostinVA]

6. I think this is great,a nd am really bemused by the "unethical"

arguments because this was :"only" a quality of life issue. Jesus, your face gets mauled off, your face is burned to a crisp in a fire, you are horribly disfigured in an auto accident, etc. This is more than "quality of life"... it's being about to LIVE.

This is just so great! Yay!

Good for the Froggies! (meant affectionately, mes amis)

[XemaSab]

9. Exactly

I can't imagine not being able to go out without people staring at me in horror.

Hopefully this woman will be able to have a full life now. :)

[MADem]

19. More is coming out on the whole matter, see my post below

re: the strange twist to the story. It could be her depressive personality that might be concerning the doctors as well--along with the need for the anti rejection meds for the rest of her life.

I think they are suggesting that the docs didn't try transplanting her own skin, from say, her butt or whatever.

But I am not a doctor, so I really don't know from ethical on this issue.

[barb162]

20. I agree; I do wonder about that dog of hers though

[bluedonkey]

8. I hope

this works out ok for her.Just think how many burn victims this could help.That is one amazing story and I hope they keep us updated.

[LostinVA]

10. Burn victims were the first people I thought of

There are no amount of operations which can make people severely burned look anyways near "normal." It's especially heartbreaking when it's a child. And, I'm sure the skin helps infections, etc.

[fujiyama]

11. Aren't thes procudes still

kind of in an experimental stage?

I too hope it works for her. It gives hope to those with severe deformations - especially burn victims.

I do remember reading about possible complications with the body rejecting it though about three years ago. There was a great article in NYT Magazine on this then.

It's great, but a little weird in a way. Reminds me of that ridiclous film "Face Off" with John Travolta and Nicholas Cage.

[LisaL]

12. What do you mean, experimental stage?

How is it going to get from experimental stage into the real stage if they won't do it on actual patients?

[Robeson]

13. Good for her. I hope she does well.....

...Oh, and on edit: Thank you France!

[Psephos]

14. Read Johnny Got His Gun for a sense of how she's felt

Dalton Trumbo's classic antiwar novel about a man who lost his face (and other parts) in war. One of the most powerful books I've ever read.

No matter what the outcome, I support this bold attempt to give back what was taken so horribly. Dying is not the worst thing that can happen to us, by far.

Peace.

[zann725]

15. "Face" said..."Woah, hold on. Who IS this? Where am I?"

Apologies for gallows humor, but the whole thing (while medically optiistic), is still somewhat unsettling. If a person's eyes are a window to their soul...the face is pretty close thereto as well.

And leaves wide-open a gross mis-use of this procedure by evil powers-that-be to transplant faces to change identities of high-profile criminals wanting to "relocate" safely.

[Triana]

16. this is outstanding...

...I wish her the best, poor woman. If this successful, then it will set a precedent for other reconstructive surgery of this type (ie: reparative, not for cosmetic reasons). Very important work they've done here and she has given herself to humanity, really, by allowing this (not that she had a lot of choices).

Such work in the US is probably limited by cost. WHO could afford it here? Note that the French gov'ts public health system pays for this. Would that EVER happen in the US? Hell no...we don't HAVE a public health system. Well, yes we do. D. I. E. <-- that's it. Puh.

[MADem]

17. VERY STRANGE twist to this story--she was attempting suicide when her face

got ripped off by her dog, who they believe was trying to revive her. He got put down for his trouble.

The WEIRDEST PART OF THE STORY--the DONOR was a suicide.

If you tried to write this as a film script, they'd tell you it was too hokey and unbelievable...
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1133651412785&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

18. ------ -------------- -------------- ---MERCY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!