Spirituality/Medicine Interface Project

Face Transplantation: The View from Birmingham, England

Authors: Stephen J. Wigmore, MD, FRCSED, FRCS

Abstract

The news that the world's first partial face transplant had been performed in France on 27th November 2005 was greeted with a mixture of emotion by the medical profession and public alike. On the one hand this was a groundbreaking procedure with the potential to help many people, on the other there was a fear and fascination with a procedure that sounds not far removed from science fiction.1,2 Part of the problem has been a misunderstanding of the practice and goals of facial transplantation fueled by imagination of this becoming a cosmetic procedure or of a Hollywood "Face Off" style change of appearance. The reality of course is quite different and the potential of facial transplantation to help the severely disfigured is genuine. All the media that have covered the story have commented that there are ethical issues associated with facial transplantation, but what are these issues that have made this procedure so controversial?

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