Face transplant has become a reality. A unique face transplant operation was performed in Russia

Face transplantation (transplantation) is an operation that is performed only for exceptional indications. And this is not just the patient’s desire to have a different appearance, but serious anatomical and aesthetic problems in the front part of the head. Despite the fact that by 2017 more than 30 such operations had already been performed, face transplantation is still considered an experimental transplantology.

Why is a face transplant done?

Indications for this most complex surgical intervention are severe damage to the tissues and bone structures of the face resulting from various disorders.

Sometimes it can be genetic disease, for example, neurofibromatosis, in which the head is affected by numerous tumor foci.

But more often it is mechanical damage: gunshot wounds, predator attacks, electrical and chemical burns.

It is these terrible events that happened to 90% of patients who had to undergo face transplantation. People lost not just some individual parts (lips, nose or cheeks), but lost their entire normal appearance. Therefore, ordinary plastic surgery was not enough, and only a face transplant could save them.

Curious! The first face transplant was performed in 2005 in France. It was a partial transplant, but the operation was qualitatively different from classical interventions in plastic surgery, because the patient received new lips, nose and chin.

The main difficulty with any organ transplant is the risk of rejection. The immune system simply does not accept new cells and tissues and begins to actively attack them with antibodies, lymphocytes and macrophages. IN best case scenario, the patient will be constantly sick and take medications. At worst, necrosis will occur and death will occur. Unfortunately, fatal More than half of the performed face transplants end.

A face transplant is not simply removing a “mask” from the donor (who donates the organ) and applying it to the recipient (who receives the organ). This is a complex set of manipulations, including the transfer of muscles, blood vessels and, most importantly, nerve endings. Combining the latter is truly a piece of jewelry that requires scrupulousness and precision.

This is interesting! Sometimes a team of doctors conducts a series of trainings before the actual operation, practicing the basic manipulations of tissue transplantation onto a corpse.

Face transplant methods

If you miss everything surgical features carrying out such an operation, its essence lies in the transfer of certain areas of the face to the recipient. The connection of donor material with patient tissue can occur in one of several ways:

• Sewing (using the finest surgical absorbable threads).
• Bonding using polymer medical adhesives.
• Bonding with laser beam, which literally seals the tissue.

The connection method is not preselected. It is determined during the operation to transplant areas of the face. Combined techniques are usually used, because All tissue types knit together differently. For example, nerve endings It is better to stitch with suture material. And muscles are usually soldered with a laser.

A face transplant can take more than a day, so the team consists of several specialists who replace each other. The veins and arteries are sutured first so that the transplanted person immediately receives nutrition. Based on the pinkish color of the skin, doctors determine that everything is going well and can begin to connect other elements.

Donor selection and features of medical ethics

The donor is a recently deceased person. Typically, these are people who died as a result of an accident or other disaster in which the person was not injured. Written consent for transplantation is given by the next of kin.

But it is not enough just to find a donor with a preserved face. It is necessary that the “candidacy” meets strict requirements regarding physiological and anatomical features: age, blood type, facial parameters, facial skeleton structure, etc. For this reason, sometimes a person has to wait for years for his donor, and then suddenly rush to the clinic for surgery.

By the way! The recipient usually does not know the donor's name. This is prescribed by medical ethics. Therefore, if the transplantation is successful, a person cannot even thank the relatives of the deceased or honor his memory at the grave.

Another ethical problem with face transplantation is the controversial public opinion. Many believe that it is blasphemous to carry out such operations, because the deceased himself might have been against it. An argument in favor of the public is that transplantation of facial parts is not always vital necessary operation. Well, the huge costs of such an intervention also make people think about the prospects for this branch of transplantology.

Successful and unsuccessful examples

Not all patients survived the face transplant surgery, because it is a long and complex operation associated with many risks: infection, bleeding, tissue rejection by the immune system, etc. Some died in the first days after the intervention. But there is also successful examples, which inspire those who now find themselves in a similar situation.

Isabelle Dinoire

This is the first woman to receive a new face. In 2005 she was chewed own dog, after which Isabel lost her nose, lips and part of her chin.

It was decided to give her a partial transplant using this triangular fragment. The donor was a young woman who hanged herself.

Doctors managed to restore the patient’s normal appearance, but Isabel suffered from tissue rejection and psychological problems.

In addition, she developed cancer and died in 2016. But her example went down in history as the first successful partial face transplant.

Connie Culp

An American woman became a victim of her own husband, who shot her in the head with a shotgun. After numerous operations the poor thing was left with a distorted face that was impossible to live with.

The transplant allowed Connie to return to life. Today she is happy that she can once again wear lipstick and smile, although her new face is far from ideal: it is puffy and has a square outline.

Patrick Hardison

The story of an American who lost his face in a fire is also amazing. This happened in 2001, and only 14 years later Patrick underwent a complete transplant of his entire face. Now you can’t immediately tell that this man once almost died in a fire: his new appearance is as close as possible to normal. And when Patrick puts on his glasses and hat, he looks like a completely ordinary person.

These are not all examples of successful face transplants. On the Internet you can find a dozen more names of people who were able to live normally after a terrible tragedy.

By the way! The United States leads in the number of face transplants performed. Nine such operations were performed there. Then comes Türkiye (8) and France (6). Transplants were also carried out in China and Japan. One of the last transplants was performed in 2016 in Finland. The name of the patient and the result of the intervention have not yet been disclosed for ethical reasons. In Russia, face transplants are not performed!

Rehabilitation after surgery

The first 10-15 days are normal recovery after surgical intervention with healing of sutures, IVs and injections. In parallel, psychologists work with the patient to help him accept his new self and teach him to live with it. During this period, the support of family and friends is very important for people, because it is they who will initially surround the patient and inspire him.

If necessary, a person with a new face can subsequently undergo several more plastic surgeries that will eliminate any imperfections. For example, this could be edge smoothing, laser removal scars, skin tightening, correction of the shape of the eyes or the shape of the nose and lips, etc. It all depends on the wishes of the patient and his state of health.

Life after face transplant

Rehabilitation does not end after discharge. A person who receives a new face is forced to take immunosuppressants for life, which will prevent the immune system from rejecting the transplanted tissue. Against this background, the patient may experience nervous seizures, prolonged depression. But this can only be called side effect compared to what it was before the operation.

The risks of carrying out such operations are very high. But when the opportunity arises to get a new face, most patients do not even think about it, but immediately decide to do it. Because many, sad as it may be, prefer to die on the operating table than to suffer from deformity.

The first face transplant operation in Russia was performed in May 2015 on a serviceman who received a severe electrical injury in one of the missile units Primorsky Krai. St. Petersburg surgeons transplanted Nikolai a complex of facial tissues with bones, cartilage and soft tissues nose About a unique event for Russian medicine - in November 2015. True, for the first time the young man appeared before journalists wearing a medical mask that almost completely hid his face. Now the patient no longer needs a mask, and surgeons present the final results of the work done at conferences. The head of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery of the North-Western State Medical University named after. Mechnikova Maria Volokh, who led the multidisciplinary team.

Maria Alexandrovna, more than a year and a half has passed since the operation. How is the patient feeling now?

Nikolai lives independently, outside the hospital - he was given a room in a dormitory. He enrolled in a correspondence course at a university, attends lectures, meets with friends - in general, he leads an ordinary lifestyle. young man. I continue to observe him and I can say that he has accepted himself and his new face. And, probably, I began to appreciate life in a completely new way. Nikolai is doing well psychological condition, he does not need the help of psychotherapists or take antidepressants. A month ago, I performed minor corrective surgery on Nikolai to restore the minor tissue loss that was lost due to postoperative complications- thrombosis of the facial vein. It was possible to create the necessary support for the tip of the nose and improve it appearance. Now Kolya has a face ordinary person— there is a very small difference between the skin color of the transplanted tissue and your own tissue, but this is easily corrected using ordinary cosmetics.

Is Nikolai awaiting further operations or is your work completed?

We can say that we are nearing completion. We'll wait until the nose is completely formed - this will take about a year - and then we'll make a decision. In the future, operations will be performed only if the patient himself wants it. Not the doctors, but only he will decide whether the result is good or not. If he is satisfied with everything from an aesthetic point of view, then new operations will not make any sense. All necessary functions of the nose - breathing and smell - have been restored.

To avoid tissue rejection, Nikolai, like any transplant patient, takes immunosuppressants daily. But in minimal doses. We transplanted about 30% of his facial tissue - this is the amount at which low doses of immunosuppression are sufficient. He is under constant immunological monitoring - once a month doctors check the level of cells that are markers of transplant rejection and the level of immunosuppressants in the blood. In the future, this control will be carried out less frequently - once every three months.

This year it became known about the death of the world's first patient with a face transplant. She died because cancer and has been associated with the use of immunosuppressants. What risks exist for Nikolai?

Katerina Reznikova

Doctor Peter

And Nicolas Cage's "Face/Off". Main character film goes on an incredible adventure and undergoes a face transplant operation. At that time, such a plot was characterized as fantastic. Today, a face transplant is rarely associated with a story from a famous thriller and no longer seems like a fairy tale, because several dozen similar operations have been performed around the world, which have given rehabilitated patients hope for new life and face.

Story

The first operation to restore appearance was performed by surgeon Harold Gillies back in 1917. Many experts consider him the founder of plastic surgery, who defined a new direction in medicine.

In 2005, the first face transplant was performed in France - one of the most complex and large-scale operations in history. Since then, more than 30 transplants with a successful outcome have been recorded. Tragic situations are also known. For example, the Chinese Guoxing Li, who endured well surgical intervention, escaped from the hospital and died while trying to recover at home.

The first successful face transplant in Russia took place in May 2015. The discovery of new opportunities became a powerful stimulus for the development of modern surgery and gave many patients hope for possible recovery. When the first face transplant took place in Russia, photos of the patient and doctors who took part in the most complex operation, flew around the world.

Patients

A face transplant is a difficult and very rare operation. The story of each of the patients who received a chance to recover from irreversible damage became public. In some cases, the question of the aesthetic feelings of crippled people was decided, while in others, lives were at stake. Many victims lost the ability to hear, eat, see, and even breathe due to severe facial damage.

In each individual case, the decision to operate was made by both the plastic surgeon and the patient, since the process involves a serious risk to the health and life of the patient. Face transplants were performed for those who suffered in a fire, were the victim of an attack, and paid for their own and others’ mistakes.

Surgical difficulties

During surgery, doctors face many difficulties. To achieve the best cosmetic effect, surgeons have to work with a complete flap of skin that does not survive well. Not only the epithelium is restored, but also muscles, cartilage, and bone tissue.

Typically, many of the victim's organs are so damaged that they need to be replaced. A face transplant requires a donor whose tissue is examined over a long period to avoid possible complications. Preparation for the operation takes more than a year, which is spent on selecting an individual set of tissues for the patient, examining him and preparing donor organs. The entire procedure, including rehabilitation period, costs several million dollars.

The operation is complex and consists of several stages, each of which requires coordinated work between specialists, concentration and attentiveness. The transplantation lasts more than 10 hours, and for full recovery Often it is necessary to do several operations.

Rehabilitation period

Most large-scale operations often cause complications in postoperative period. Face transplant surgery is no exception. Difficulties are associated with the adaptation of foreign tissues and germination in them blood vessels. Newest technologies and careful investigations help minimize the risk of complications.

Recovery after transplantation continues for several years. Throughout their lives, patients are forced to take medications that prevent tissue rejection. Much attention is given psychological work with a person who has to live harmoniously with a new appearance. Despite the difficulties, each of them is grateful for the given opportunity to enjoy life again, without being embarrassed about their face.

Patrick Hardison

In 2001, a firefighter tried to save a woman from a burning building.

Unfortunately, the attempt resulted in severe burns that disfigured Patrick's entire face and upper torso. His ears, nose, lips and eyelids were burned, the man practically lost his sight and faith in a bright future. He desperately needed a face transplant. Before and after: this is how the tragedy divided the life of the victim.

Over the course of several years, the firefighter underwent more than 70 preliminary operations; the preparation for the transplant itself took about a year.

After 26 hours spent on the operating table in the company of more than 100 medical workers, Patrick has found a new face. This is the first operation in history during which the victim’s own face was completely replaced with a donor’s.

Isabelle Dinoire

In 2005, the world's first partial face transplant was performed in France, during which the patient received not only skin, but also a nose, lips, and chin. As experts note, these parts cause the greatest difficulties in transplantation. The success of the transplant inspired other plastic surgeons to further develop such an incredible operation as a face transplant. Photos before and after rehabilitation clearly demonstrate positive changes in the victim’s appearance.

Isabelle Dinoire was mutilated your own dog. Wanting to take her own life, the woman drank a lot of sleeping pills. The dog was unable to wake up its owner, and the desperate Labrador bit Isabelle’s face. She woke up in a pool of blood, and after washing herself, she discovered that half of her face was missing. The surgeons immediately decided that it was impossible to restore the organs and offered the victim a transplant.

Dallas Vince

In 2011, a man from Texas became the owner of the new look. Three years before the operation, he received a powerful one, as a result of which he instantly melted top part faces. They fought for his life for a day and a half, but his eyes, nose, lips and other organs were completely burned. The man lived for several years literally without a face, fed through a straw, but did not despair. Despite his injuries, he recovered and was able to walk. The strengthened man was awaiting a face transplant. The photo taken after the efforts of plastic surgeons indicates that the victim’s appearance has been completely changed.

After the operation, Dallas spoke again and his sense of smell returned. Unfortunately, his vision could not be restored, but the patient was able to relearn almost all the possibilities of facial expressions. Today, his face is almost completely functional, which not all patients who have undergone such an operation can boast of.

Oscar

In 2005, an accident occurred with a Spanish farmer. As a result, the man almost completely lost his face, being left without a nose, teeth, lips, and cheekbones. According to one version, Oscar (under this name the man is presented on the Internet) shot himself, accidentally. The victim lived with this problem for five years, until another trouble befell him - his mouth was covered with skin, depriving the man of the ability to eat, speak and even breathe.

In 2010, one of the longest face transplant operations in the history of plastic surgery was performed. Surgeons had to restore many lost organs and tissues. Thanks to the efforts of doctors, Oscar was again able to eat and breathe on his own.

Carmen Tarleton

Her story is as tragic as that of other patients requiring face transplantation. A forty-year-old woman was attacked by ex-husband, who mutilated Carmen beyond recognition.

He mutilated his wife's body and face with a bat and a bottle of acid. The victim of violence spent three months in a coma, and over the next five years she had to undergo 55 operations. The disfigured body was literally reassembled piece by piece, sewing new skin taken from her own legs and from donors to the burned areas.

Unfortunately, the efforts of the surgeons helped save Carmen’s life, but did not return her face, and with it the ability to speak, eat independently, and smile. In 2013, doctors performed another experimental operation, transplanting the face of a deceased 56-year-old woman into the patient. Having gone through the hardest and long rehabilitation, Carmen relearned how to eat, talk, breathe and perform other manipulations that seem healthy person simple. She found the strength to forgive her ex-husband and even wrote a book about her difficult fate. Not only her appearance, but also her life was changed by a face transplant: photos before and after the tragedy allow you to see this with your own eyes.

Richard Norris

After an unsuccessful attempt to commit suicide by shooting him in the head with a shotgun, a young man was forced to go into hiding. strangers for fifteen long years. Then, in 1997, doctors were able to save his life, but his disfigured face could not be restored - the bones were crushed, the jaw was deformed, and the tongue was practically absent. Richard appeared on the street only at night, wearing a cap and mask hiding his disfigured face.

Fifteen years later, the victim’s mother found a doctor willing to perform facial reconstruction surgery, and the would-be suicide immediately agreed to take the risk. In 2012, the man underwent a 36-hour operation that gave him a new look. Richard's face was assembled from several donors, whose tissue, surprisingly, took root quickly. Now he is no longer accompanied by the amazed glances of passers-by. He learned to speak again, eat on his own and even smile. Face transplantation before and after full recovery has become the only possible way out from the current situation. Fortunately, everything ended well.

Face transplant in Russia

Domestic surgeons have opened the way to a new normal life a soldier who received a severe burn all over his body, which resulted in irreversible damage to his face. Thirty operations were carried out to save and restore the person, but plastic surgeons could not completely solve the victim's problem.

The first face transplant operation in Russia was carried out, as already mentioned, in May 2015. Moscow doctors prepared for this for three years, rehearsing on an exact copy of the patient’s face model. The transplant, which involved eight surgeons, took more than 15 hours. The event became public only in November, when specialists were completely confident in the successful outcome of the operation and feeling good patient. The doctors’ hopes were justified: a face transplant in Russia, a photo of the rescued person, and an encouraging result became a triumph for Russian plastic surgery.

Improved technology and accumulated experience make it possible to carry out the most incredible tasks, giving desperate people hope for recovery. A face transplant, of course, will not become a mass procedure in the near future, as it requires a huge investment of effort, time, Money. Nevertheless, in Russia it is planned to further perform similar operations on patients with appropriate medical indications.

Illustration copyright Family/Martin Schoeller Image caption The face transplant operation lasted 31 hours

Katie Stubblefield was only 18 years old when she lost her face.

After a suicide attempt, doctors saved her life, but she will continue to live with the traits of a completely different person.

Katie became the youngest patient in the United States to receive a face transplant. National Geographic magazine described the grueling recovery operations the 22-year-old girl had to endure.

• A man in France received a third party

Journalists were allowed to be in the Ohio hospital where Katie was operated on. She was 21 years old then.

The reporter and photographer were with her as she prepared for the surgical procedure and were able to see the results of the operation, which lasted 31 hours.

Illustration copyright National Geographic

A story about the girl, called “The Story of a Face,” was included in the September issue of the magazine with her portrait on the cover. National Geographic also made a documentary about Katie.

Since 2010, when the first full face transplant was performed in Spain, 40 people have undergone the procedure.

But American insurance companies do not cover this type of transplant because it is still considered experimental.

Katie's surgery was paid for by the Armed Forces Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, which is constantly improving the rehabilitation treatment for military personnel injured in battle.

Katie was an excellent candidate for surgery due to her young age and the nature of her injury.

Her face donor was 31-year-old Adrea Schneider, who died of a drug overdose in 2017.

Doctors have already used some of her organs for transplantation to patients in need, and permission for a face transplant was given by the deceased’s grandmother, Sandra Bennington, who met Katie after the operation.

Illustration copyright Benningdon Family/Maggie Steber/National Geograph Image caption Adrea Schneider's grandmother said she recognized her granddaughter's features in Katie's face.

Katie says she doesn't remember much of her life before she tried to commit suicide. According to her relatives, in adolescence she was very worried about moving, failed relationships and chronic gastrointestinal diseases.

The suicide attempt left much of her face damaged, including her nose, part of her forehead and jaw. The brain and eyes were also severely damaged.

She was initially treated in Mississippi, then transferred to Tennessee, and eventually ended up at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, which is considered an innovator in the development of transplantation.

Before her transplant surgery, Katie underwent 22 reconstructive plastic surgeries, which used part of her hip and 3D printed materials to rebuild her jaw.

Katie and her family say when they were told she might be a candidate for surgery, they didn't know exactly what to expect.

"I had no idea what a face transplant was. When my parents explained everything to me, I was very happy that I would have a face again and I could return to a normal life," she said.

She waited a whole year. Two possible donor did not fit for a number of reasons, but in the end, in May 2017, the operation took place.

Illustration copyright Maggie Steber/National Geographic Image caption Katie's mother Alesya (pictured left) said her daughter wanted the operation so she wouldn't be stared at in the street.

At first, doctors planned to transplant only part of the face, but then they decided to use more of the donor's face to reduce the risk of rejection.

After the transplant, three more were performed additional operations. Most likely, there will be even more operations to improve the appearance of the face and its functionality.

Katie continues to have difficulty speaking due to the damage to her mouth. For the rest of her life, she will have to take medications that reduce the likelihood of rejection of the transplanted face.

Second chance

In an interview with National Geographic, the girl said that she hopes to go to college and then become a psychologist.

She would also be interested in speaking to teenagers on the topic of suicide and the value of life.

"Many people helped me. Now I want to help others," she said.

Plastic surgeon Brian Gastman said that thanks medical procedure Katie has a second chance, CNN reports.

"More than anything, I want Katie to be happy. That's the most important thing. And I also want her to be able to lead a more or less normal life," Gastman said.

"Then she can talk about how to be strong no matter what and not let one decision in life make you who you are," he added.

The last century was marked by many theoretical and practical breakthroughs in the field of medicine - for example, the formation and improvement of transplantology - a discipline that studies the transplantation of organs and tissues. When discussing this issue it is usually we're talking about about allotransplantation - the transfer of organs from a genetically foreign donor. Special place is occupied by face transplantation, successful attempts of which were made relatively recently - in the 21st century; Currently, the number of operations performed is about three dozen.

Features of face transplant

Face transplant– a complex surgical intervention, indications for which arise after severe damage to the soft tissues and bone structures of the head (or they occur as a result of certain diseases, in particular, genetic defects). All operations were performed after the patients' faces were disfigured due to gunshot wounds, flame and electrical burns, attacks by predators (bears and dogs) or suffered from complications and side effects therapeutic measures(removal of tumors, etc.).

Any organ transplant from another person carries a risk of rejection (unless the donor is an identical twin of the recipient, and therefore his genetic copy). The patient's immune system recognizes the foreignness of the displaced tissue, followed by an “attack” of antibodies, lymphocytes and macrophages. This can result in complete necrosis (death) of the resulting organ, which is fraught not only with technical failure, but also with the death of the recipient. To prevent a rejection reaction, a set of measures is used, which, among other things, includes careful selection of a donor (he must be as close as possible to the recipient in terms of antigenic structure tissues) and lifelong use of immunosuppressants by the patient.

At serious defects face, conventional methods of reconstructive surgery most often turn out to be ineffective; In addition, massive and disfiguring scars remain at the site where the patient’s own tissues taken for transplantation were collected. Therefore, today the only way to obtain a satisfactory result is a complete face transplant of another person. This involves moving a complex tissue complex, including skin with underlying tissue, muscles, nerves and vascular bundles and even elements of the facial skeleton. Sometimes before the main stage, a team of surgeons performs a series of training operations on corpses to practice all the manipulations in detail. In some cases, it is necessary to perform a diagnostic intervention on the patient’s face to determine his individual characteristics structure and clarification of the course of subsequent transplantation.

Donor selection and some bioethics issues

Search suitable donor may take long time, since his candidacy must meet many stringent requirements and coincide with the recipient according to the following criteria:

• blood type;
• approximate age;
• color of the skin;
• face size;
• structure of the facial skeleton;
• antigenic composition of tissues (here a complete match is impossible, but doctors are trying to choose the closest option).

In addition, the donor must not be a carrier viral infections and suffer from systemic diseases.

The source of tissue is usually a person who has recently died in some kind of disaster (provided the face is intact). Another option is a patient with a damaged brain, whose vital functions are supported only by mechanical breathing and circulatory systems. In this case, legal difficulties are possible, since the laws of some countries do not recognize transplantations. It should be noted that successfully completed operations have an impact on legislation - it gradually changes towards greater loyalty.

Of course, the consent of the donor's relatives is required, and sometimes his own dying permission to remove tissue (which most often can be obtained). At the same time, close people have every right to anonymity - no one should know about the donor’s identity except doctors, who maintain professional secrets. Even the recipient, who wants to meet the donor’s relatives and express gratitude, is refused assistance. There are known cases of disclosure of classified data by journalists, which resulted in legal proceedings.

In addition to legal problems, face transplantation has long faced mixed public attitudes. The first operations caused serious criticism - both from ordinary people and from large medical communities and religious institutions. This type of transplantation was considered by many to be immoral; the fact of “removing” a face from a still living person was especially shocking - even if he was brain dead and existed only thanks to his work medical equipment. One of the arguments of opponents of operations was based on the fact that any organ transplant is performed solely to save the patient’s life, while face transplantation was recognized by them only as a cosmetic manipulation. Another negative argument is the unreasonably high costs of such interventions (which is true - the total costs for the work of specialists, material support for the operation and rehabilitation are approximately $300,000). For the sake of objectivity, it is worth noting that the greatest activity in “defending” moral and ethical principles was shown by surgeons who had previously performed transplant operations with unsuccessful results.

At the same time, the question was often omitted of how much people suffer, practically deprived of their faces and falling out of normal public and personal life. Many of them have serious mental disorders- in particular, severe depression; Suicide attempts are often made. Currently, despite the relatively small number of face transplants performed, their feasibility is no longer in doubt. Doctors do not deny that many significant problems have not yet been eliminated - for example, a unified intervention protocol has not been developed, significant operational risk remains and high probability subsequent complications. The justification for the actions of doctors is the return to the patient of an adequate quality of life, the accumulation of valuable clinical experience and the development of practical transplantology.

Surgical technique and rehabilitation

In each case, it is carried out according to an individual scheme, but we can distinguish common features all operations; they are characterized by a significant duration (12 hours or more), they can involve a large number of specialists (up to 30 people).

One team of surgeons collects donor material (separating the face and all adnexal structures). In parallel, another group of specialists prepares the so-called recipient bed by gently removing the patient’s damaged tissue. First of all, nutrition is provided to the “new” face, for which veins and arteries are anastomosed (connected) as quickly as possible. After the blood supply is restored, the nerve bundles, muscles, and ligaments are sequentially sutured, then skin sutures are applied.

Immediately after the end of the intervention, the patient begins to receive immunosuppressive therapy aimed at suppressing the reaction of rejection of foreign tissue. Since this significantly increases the body’s susceptibility to any infection and increases the likelihood purulent complications, several antibiotics are simultaneously administered different groups. After about a year, some medications can be discontinued, but some of them must be taken for life. A long period (from several months to several years) takes the restoration of sensory and motor functions. The patient re-learns to speak, smile, chew and swallow food. It is noted that the transplanted face retains some of the characteristics of the previous owner and at the same time acquires some new features.

First face transplant

The world's first face transplant was performed in France in 2005 on a woman who was 38 years old by that time. She attempted suicide with a large dose of sleeping pills. The unconscious owner was discovered by her Labrador dog and tried to bring her back to life, which caused severe injuries to her chin, nose and mouth. Doctors were faced with injuries whose severity precluded the success of conventional reconstructive plastic surgery. A council of surgeons decided on a face transplant - the first in the history of medicine at that time.

The operation was successful, although the patient took a long time to get used to her new appearance and suffered from the attention of the press and public. She currently has a long, thin scar on her face and remains partially deformed. right cheek. The woman is pleased with the result and dreams of finding and thanking the donor's relatives, although this is hardly possible - French legislation excludes the receipt of such personal information.

Today it is not only the pinnacle of surgeons’ skills, but for some patients it remains the only opportunity to return to a full life.

Dear visitors to our website, if you have had this or that operation (procedure) or used any product, please leave your review. It can be very useful to our readers!