WE Blog

Remember the movie “Face/Off”? Maybe not. The plot revolved around an undercover FBI agent using an advanced surgical procedure to take the actual face of a criminal to penetrate a crime ring. It seemed far-fetched in 1997, but modern medicine has a way of turning science fiction into reality.
The recent partial face transplant — the world’s first — on a French woman seems to have gone well, although the radical procedure also has raised a host of thorny ethical issues. Did the doctors move too quickly to introduce what is still a highly risky and experimental procedure?
Moreover, an individual’s facial features are closely associated with identity and personality. What does a face transplant do to the recipient psychologically?
But consider that the woman patient had suffered a horrific dog mauling. She wore a mask in public. Doctors had ruled out conventional plastic surgery as too complicated and unlikely to succeed. This procedure, if perfected, could provide hope in such cases.
It’s too soon to call the face transplant a success. But it’s another example of how medical science is challenging our notions of both what’s possible and what’s ethical.
Posted by Randy Scholfield