French woman recovers after face transplant surgical process

A French woman who had the world's first partial face transplant has thanked her surgeons, who say she is recovering well from the controversial operation.

The anonymous 38-year-old patient is at a hospital in Lyon, France after receiving a nose, lips and chin from a brain-dead donor in an operation on Nov. 27.

Her Surgeon spoke with unidentified woman who received the world's first face transplant. "Her first words(after the surgery) was 'thank you'".  "She saw her face and is happy," said Dr. Jean-Michel Dubernard, another member of the surgical team.

The woman had been unable to speak or eat properly since losing the lower part of her face in May. She had been drowsy after taking medication to calm down after an argument with her daughter. She was then attacked by her pet Labrador Retriever dog after stepping on it, surgeons said.

Issued statements from the national ethics committee in France voiced a non-binding negative opinion on facial transplants, stating than the surgeries are extremely risky and the patient would have to take immunosuppressive drugs with heavy side-effects for the rest of her life.  Immunosuppressive drugs prevent the receiver’s body from rejecting the donor’s tissue.  A suppressed immunity system can lead to greater vulnerability to illness.

The surgeons said their priority was to help a patient who was in an "exceptional situation." Dubernard said he initially had reservations but when he saw the patient, he no longer hesitated.

Our opinion is that Dubernard showed true compassion for a person in a very trying situation.

Plastic surgery would have been difficult if not impossible in her case, the doctors said. Several psychiatric assessments were a precursor for the patient before the surgery.

The woman will need to adapt to her new bone structure and appearance, and will receive physical and speech therapy as well as seeing a psychologist.

Dubernard performed the first hand transplant in 1998, which failed after the patient did not take anti-rejection drugs. He also led the world's first double forearm transplant in 2000.

Colleagues criticized Dubernard at the time for what they saw as taking unnecessary risks. Since then, similar operations have been performed around the world, giving hope to people disfigured by accidents or burns.

Life does imitate art sometimes.  This story evokes memories of  the 1997 Movie called Face Off,  where the two protagonist exchange faces via a surgical process.