World's first face transplant hailed as a complete success

Jul 4 2006

According to the French surgeons who carried out the world's first face transplant, six months down the line the operation is regarded as a complete success.

The team have revealed plans for another later this year or early next year.

Professor Bernard Devauchelle of the Center Hospitalier Universitaire Amiens in northern France, says from both a functional and aesthetical viewpoint they are very satisfied with the results.

The team made history by transplanting tissues, muscles, arteries and veins, taken from a brain-dead donor, onto Mrs Dinoire's lower face.

However Professor Devauchelle who led the team says the long-term results depend on the tolerance of the transplant.

Isabelle Dinoire, 38, was given a new nose, lips and chin in Amiens on the 27th of November following a savage attack by her dog and will need to take immune suppressant drugs for the rest of her life to ensure her body does not reject her new face.

Failure of the drugs could prove devastating, with the possible loss of the transplanted face at any time.

Despite the success Devauchelle is doubtful that partial face transplants will become a common procedure because they are complicated to organize and coordinate and patients must be selected and screened very carefully.

He expects no more than 20 facial transplantations to be carried out in the next five years.

At the time the groundbreaking surgery sparked an ethical debate and raised questions about the psychological impact on both the recipient and the donor's family.

In April, Chinese doctors reported replacing two-thirds of the face of a man who had been attacked by a bear, while British surgeons are seeking approval to do the world's first full face transplant.

Devauchelle says he has received as many as 20 requests from people in Britain, France, Israel and North Africa for a partial face transplant, but none were regarded as suitable because of the extent of the injuries and the lack of potential donors.

Devauchelle and his team currently have two candidates for the next transplant, a young boy and a 45-year-old man, who are currently being screened and are undergoing psychological tests.

As it stands at present French law only allows for partial face transplants to be done.

After receiving permission for the surgery on Dinoire from the French authorities, it seems a medical team of 50 were on call every day for two months waiting for a donor.

When they received news of the availability of a 46-year-old donor at 4 p.m. on Saturday, within two hours everyone was contacted and the team was assembled by midnight.

Professor Devauchelle says the most difficult part was the organization and the coordination between the several teams.