Doctors fret as face transplant patient reverts to smoking

Doctors fret as face transplant patient reverts to smoking

The first ever face transplant patient has gone back to her old habit of smoking, something which, her surgeons dread, could meddle with the healing process of her new face.

A Frenchwoman named Isabelle Dinoire, 38 had got her face disfigured when her dog clawed it. She was given a new face (nose, lips and chin) that was taken from another woman who was brain dead. Now as her face heals, she has taken up smoking which her doctors believe could increase the possibility of rejection of the new tissue. The patient has already suffered tissue rejection to a certain degree.

“It is a problem,” said Dr. Jean-Michel Dubernard on Wednesday referring to the patient's smoking. Dr. Dubernard and his team performed the ground-breaking surgery on Nov. 27 last year.

The doctor and his team were speaking in a medical conference where they made a first-time presentation on the transplant. Surgeons from other countries expressed optimism about the future of face transplants. “Face transplants can be done and should be done,” remarked Dr. Warren Breidenbach, the surgeon to whose credit goes the first hand transplant in the United States which was performed in the year 1999.

The doctors were of the opinion that it was high time the dispute over the ethicality of the first face transplant was put to rest. “A number of us here are interested in making this a widespread procedure available to the public. It's the future, and could benefit millions of people,” said Dr. Suzanne Ildstad, a transplant surgeon from Louisville.

Many surgeons however emphasized that transplants should be carried out only on patients who are psychologically in good shape. According to Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, the head of the plastic surgery department at the University of Pittsburgh, “We need to alter the risk-benefit balance,” before transplants are taken up more extensively.

In the meantime Isabelle Dinoire went for an outing on Sunday escorted by her psychiatrist.