Face Off

Today's Medical Monday is about as science fictionish as you could get. There is a doctor in Cleveland who is taking applications for an experimental surgical procedure. A face transplant. The doctor had to fight kicking and screaming to get approval, but they are finally ready to pick the first contestant on the Face is Right. But there is another doctor in England who is planning on giving someone a whole new look, so there is going to be a race to see what medical team is first.

Personally, I don't know if I would try it. I mean, my face would have to be pretty messed up for me to want to let a doctor sew a dead person's skin on my face. On the other hand, the article about the Cleveland doctor had an interview with one man who was badly burned in a car accident. One of the side effects was the fact that his whiskers can't grow through the skin grafts, so his face is just one big ingrown hair, infected and full of puss. He has to constantly go back to the hospital and have it worked on.

The doctor said the new face would still look mostly like you, because how you look depends on things like the shape of your jawbone and cheekbones. So you wouldn't look like a dead person. At least not all the way. I mean, if the person had a mole or birthmark you would end up with that. Still, I would have to be pretty messed up to try it. If the transplant failed you would end up with absolutely nothing for a face, and that would be worse than a burned up face.