Clinic Gets Approval to do Face Transplant
CLEVELAND, OHIO - A clinic in Ohio says it is about to start screening patients for what could be the world's first face transplant.
The clinic's director of plastic surgery, Dr. Maria Siemionow, says they got permission Oct. 15 after 10 months of discussing the issue.
Siemionow says it could take two years to find an appropriate patient, likely one who has been badly disfigured by disease or burns.
But she says finding an appropriate cadaver could prove more difficult. Families of potential donors could be reluctant to allow the donation because faces are so much a part of who people are.
She added that the outcome of the procedure is anything but certain. She says prospective patients will be warned that the chance of failure because of rejection or other complications could be as high as 50 per cent.
The procedure raises a number of ethical issues. The operation carries big risks, yet it is for purely cosmetic reasons, not to correct a life-threatening condition.
I swear to God, it feels like News of the Weird around here lately...