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Nation's First Face Transplant Done in Cleveland
Dr. Maria Siemionow replaced 80 percent of a woman's face with that of a dead female donor. The hospital spokeswoman said that the operation was done a couple weeks ago. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta, File)
Marilynn Marchione / AP
December 17, 2008
In an interview in 2005, Siemionow spoke of the terrible need she saw in people horribly disfigured, and how badly it scarred their social and emotional lives, not just their bodies.
“There are no really good alternative therapies for the severely burned or patients with a facial injury or damage,” she said.
Her task now is to prevent organ rejection while managing the risk of infection from taking strong immune-suppressing drugs.
Rejection is a possibility whenever someone receives an organ or cells from someone else because the body regards this as foreign tissue. Two types of problems can result.
The first is graft-versus-host disease, which could happen if the new facial tissue were to attack the recipient’s body. The second is if the patient’s body were to attack the bone marrow or the transplanted face, causing inflammation and other problems at the site of the new tissue.
Either of these can be life-threatening. They can come on suddenly, within days or weeks of the operation, or set in slowly.
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ccburkejm
11 months ago
148 comments
This is wonderful news!!! I hope things work out well (meaning no infections etc.) for the recipient and family. This must be life changing. I am excited that the medical team was brave enough to even attempt it, although I expect to hear many ethical concerns later on in the news. I totally support this!
emtpixie
11 months ago
326 comments
This is a very awesome thing. I can just imagine the new life that opens up for the recipients of the facial tissue! How exciting! I did feel a little uneasy about it at first, I guess because it's so different and very personal. But once I started thinking about it I realized that it's really not too much different than organ donation. Skin is an organ, afterall!
nursenikki23
11 months ago
348 comments
I can't believe it I would love to read more details
cdnurse
11 months ago
3260 comments
I think this is fantastic. Lifesaving? Well, I think it is. If someone is so disfigured that they can not work, well, you can argue that it is life saving.
AustinNurse12
11 months ago
96 comments
This is absolutely fantastic! The patient and surgeon are both so brave to undergo such a risky procedure. Thank God everything worked out for the best!
Shan4691
11 months ago
5402 comments
WOW!
Slowry2107
11 months ago
12 comments
I don't know how to feel about this article. On one hand i feel, wow.. this must be amazing for the people really disfigured, they can lead a normal life if it all works out well, but on the other hand I can't seem to shake the thought of someone who maybe loved this "cadaver" when he or she was alive and lost that love, maybe running into this person somewhere, somehow and seeing his or her face walking around. Odds are that won't happen, and the face would probably take on big differences in facial features due to brows,cheek bones and such... But hey, if it works out great for this person, and gives he or she the chance to live a fulfilling life, who are we to say anything...You only live one life.
lunarcaustic
11 months ago
1526 comments
This article was already posted about 10 hours earlier. NL often duplicates postings that members submit earlier. Where are the editors at NL? Can't they at least check a single day's submissions before posting an article?