A team at the NYU Langone Medical Research Center in New York has performed a “total face transplant involving the scalp, ears and ear canals on a former voluntary fireman”, namely 41 year-old Patrick Hardison. This is “the most complete procedure to date” following a partial transplant (nose, lips and chin) performed in France in 2005 and a total transplant carried out once again in France in 2010.
The surgical procedure took 36 hours and was performed in August. It constituted an “advance in medical terms” because it was “the first time that the outcome did not leave any facial scarring or irregularity”. The patient will, however, have to “take immunosuppressants for the rest of his life” even though “progress has been made to manage the body’s immune reaction more effectively”. He was “given the face of a young 26 year-old man who was brain dead”.
The cost of the transplant was estimated in the region of “$850,000 to$1 million” and was“ paid for by a special NYU Langone grant
TV 5 monde (16/11/2015)