FACE OP WONDER.SURGEONS have successfully carried out the world's first face, jaw and tongue transplant. They spent 16 hours operating on a man of 43 whose face had been horribly disfigured by radiotherapy for a tumour 11 years ago. The patient will eventually be able to eat, taste, swallow and speak again. Pedro Cavadas Dr. Pedro Cavadas is a Spanish surgeon known for directing world-pioneering interventions, such as one in which he kept alive a patient's arm by temporarily implanting it on the patient's leg, or another in which he converted a one-handed patient's right hand into a left hand in , who led 30 Spanish medics in Valencia in the day-long op, said yesterday: "The patient's seen himself and is delighted." The case was marred by controversy after authorities released details about the donor against his family's wishes. French woman Isabelle Dinoire Isabelle Dinoire, born 1967, was the first person to undergo a partial face transplant, after her dog mauled her in May 2005. Prior to the operation, she could barely eat or speak but after the operation, she can do both. received the first face transplant A face transplant is a skin graft that involves replacing part or all of a patient's face with a donor face. Purpose People with faces disfigured by burns, trauma, disease or birth defects might benefit from the procedure. four years ago after losing her nose, lips and chin when a dog mauled her. |
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