Face Transplant: Treat Persons with Disfigured Faces

Katie Stubblefield, before and after face transplant (https://wtvr.com/) 

What we call as face transplant is replacing some parts or full of face through a medical procedure. A disfigured face (a recipient) was replaced with tissues from a cadaver (a donor). Both a donor and a recipient must have “a common sense” in terms of blood, tissue type, age and skin tone. 

Through a complex micro-surgery, the dead donor face was peeled away, then implant on the clear face of the recipient. The arteries and veins of recipient supply the blood into new tissues and become pinkish. After 6 months to 1 year, the new face will function normal. 

The first partially face transplant was done in France in 2005. Spain conducted first full-face transplant in 2010. Now, many countries have performed face transplant include France, Spain, USA, China, Turkey, Poland and UK. 

However, not many of face transplants have been done until 2015, around 37 transplants were recorded. 17 full face and 20 partially. It could take long hours, 12 until 36 hours for duration of micro-surgical operations.  

The cost reach US$350 thousand in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. In India, the cost much cheaper, US$12,500 for a partial and US$70,000 for a full face transplant.