Monday, March 1, 2010

More on Facial Transplantation

Updated 3/2017 -- all links (except to my own posts) removed as many no longer active. and it was easier than checking each one.

There are two related articles from Plastic Surgery Practice by Amy Di Leo who interviewed Daniel Alam, MD on the topic of facial transplantation. Dr. Alam was the primary Microvascular surgeon of the Cleveland Clinic team that performed the 22-hour face transplant procedure. I recommend both to you.

Daniel Alam, MD, on Facial Transplantation: A step-by-step discussion of the historic near-total face transplant in the United States by Amy Di Leo (January 2010)
In Part One of a two-part series of articles, Alam reviews the events that led up to the surgery, including a discussion of donor selection and preparing the patient emotionally for the procedure.

Daniel Alam, MD on Facial Transplantation Recovery and Ethics Issues by Amy Di Leo (February 2010)
Alam: There is a lot of additional recovery for a face transplant patient. That is why it is important for a patient to be local because all the people on the care team need to see her. It wouldn’t make sense for a patient to come to us from Germany for an operation like this. Connie lives about 100 miles away, and she comes for postsurgical visits at least once a month.

Related posts
Face Transplantation – First in the US Done (December 18, 2008)
Cleveland Clinic’s Connie Culp (May 6, 2009)
The Technical and Anatomical Aspects of the World's First Near-Total Human Face and Maxilla Transplant—an Article Review (December 7, 2009)

1 comment:

Megan Brown said...

This is an incredibly wonderful option for those that have substantial injuries to their face. Recovery and pain I believe would be worth it, just to have a face again.