Doctor's Ready To Perform Face Transplant

Associated Press | 9-17-2004 | AP

[Aquinasfan]

I feel for the people needing the transplant, but this whole thing is just creepy.

I think your instincts are correct. Someone explained the other day that organ donors are never truly dead when organs are removed. They're "brain dead," which is a different thing. You'll need a doctor to explain the difference, but the explanation I heard made sense to me.

[Senator Pardek]

Where do I sign up?

[mylife]

I wonder though...wouldnt the new face tend to resemble the old face due to bone and muscle structure?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I don't think I could face an operation like that.

[TN4Liberty]

I think we can use two-faced liberals as donors.

[BunnySlippers]

Gee whiz, what's so hard to understand about a burn or accident victim? Or you can make fun.

[atomicpossum]

My luck, I'd get her face.

That's her FACE?!

[zlala]

I know Jacqui Saburido has talked about having this procedure done. She doesn't want to be the first however, just in case it didn't work out. She figures she's better off with what she has now, than the unknown. I wonder if she's changed her mind.

[Rubber_Duckie_27]

Well, they're not STEALING the face...just sort of borrowing it.... :-)

[Bones75]

From what I have read, the new face looks different from the donrs face, and different from the face of the recipient.. it sort of creates a thid, different face. Strange.

I hope that this works, people who have accidents that disfigure their face should have a chance to have this. I, too, pray for the people the people for whom this becomes necessary.

Bones

[zlala]

Brief story of Jacqui -

Early on Sunday morning September 19, 1999, Jacqui - then 20 years old - and four friends were on their way home from a birthday party. Reggie Stephey, an 18-year-old high school student, was on his way home from drinking beer with some buddies. On a dark road on the outskirts of Austin, Texas, Reggie's SUV veered into the Oldsmobile carrying Jacqui and the others. Two passengers in the car were killed at the scene and two were rescued.

[zlala]

sorry here's the rest -

Within minutes, the car caught fire. Jacqui was pinned in the front seat on the passenger side. She was burned over 60% of her body; no one thought she could survive. But Jacqui lived. Her hands were so badly burned that all of her fingers had to be amputated. She lost her hair, her ears, her nose, her left eyelid and much of her vision. She has had more than 50 operations since the crash and has many more to go. In June 2001 Reggie Stephey was convicted of two counts of intoxication manslaughter for the deaths of Jacqui's two friends. He was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined $20,000.

[BossLady]

WOW!!! What a story!!! If you ever think your life is bad....take a look at this woman....what courage! Puts it all into perscpective doesn't it?!

[Arpege92]

Wow....she seems like a brave young woman.

[Ichneumon]

From what I have read, the new face looks different from the donrs face, and different from the face of the recipient.. it sort of creates a thid, different face. Strange.

Well, that would make sense. The shape of someone's face is determined both by the shape of the skin/muscles of the face, and by the shape of the skull they have as their foundation. If you "wrap" the muscular part of a face around a differently shaped skull, the final contours of the face will be different from either "donor".

[Lockbar]

I hope it works, but I suspect its going to be rough matching up the people needing a new face, and the event that will cause a person to die who is a good enough match for the person in need of a face. I guess they can match up people that are on life support for a while and who then die in hospital, where they can be a quick and immediate operation. Then comes all the ethical questions of waiting for the brain dead person to legally pass on. But I hope something can be done to help people who have been so tragically disfigured.

[zlala]

She is very brave. I've seen several interview with her and she's accepted what has happened and is trying to move forward in positive ways. I think she's living in Louisville and has been working with the doctors that are going to do the transplant. Her father (pictured with her) has given up his life in Venezuela to help her.

[BossLady]

Amazing lady that is for sure! I will keep her in my prayers....

[zlala]

Here is her website:

Jacqueline Saburido

[Ichneumon]

Although it's primarily an action movie, the film "Face/Off", with John Travolta and Nicholas Cage, does a surprisingly thoughtful job of examining the various psychological issues of assuming someone else's face.

The plot is that terrorist Nicholas Cage and FBI investigator John Travolta are long-time enemies, and when Cage is eventually caught and left in a coma, John Travolta must take his face (using a new medical procedure) in a desperate attempt to impersonate Cage and get information from Cage's brother about the location of the next bombing. Cage wakes from his coma and forces the doctors to put Travolta's face on *him*, then kills everyone who knew about the swap and assumes *Travolta's* identity in order to a) seek revenge, b) get inside the FBI's investigation, and c) hunt down and kill "Cage" (actually Travolta, but no one else knows that).

The film takes a number of good twists, has great action scenes, and does a number of pretty good angles on what it would do to you to see your enemy's face every time you look in the mirror, hunt down someone who looks like yourself, and to walk in your enemy's shoes and live his life.