Face Transplantation: What You Need to Know?

ABSTRACT

Since the 1990s, face transplants have gotten a lot of press and public attention across the world. After a transplant was disclosed in November 2005, the first recipient, Isabelle Dinoire, found herself at the center of a spectacular event of surgical innovation. Up till August 2020, 47 transplants have been performed globally (including two retransplants), all of which have received substantial media attention. Hundreds of publications addressing the procedure's medicinal, physical, psychological, and ethical ramifications have been published in the scholarly literature, far outnumbering the procedure's occurrence. Face transplants have also appeared in films, television shows, and novels, indicating a desire to explore the social and interpersonal consequences of face variance. This is an attempt to present a comprehensive context of face transplantation progress and practice, based mostly on extant documentary sources. It traces the history of face transplants, identifying major milestones and themes along the way and focusing on its development as a therapeutic option for individuals with severe facial abnormalities. There are still important questions to be asked about the patient's perspective, as well as the complex philosophical and sociological meanings of the face, but this article focuses on the institutional and cultural factors that have allowed for such an ethically complex and radical surgery to take place. Opportunity and financial feasibility are among them, as are expertise, ambition, and an awareness of patient needs.