Face transplants prove successful
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Face transplants can work and are not medical oddities, researchers said Thursday, citing the case of a Chinese man who underwent the procedure after a bear tore off part of his face and the case of a French Caribbean man disfigured by a rare tumor.
The findings give hope to some people with severe facial disfigurement and suggest that such transplants could prove long-lasting without major problems, two separate research teams reported in the Lancet medical journal.
Despite recurrent episodes of tissue rejection in the first year after their transplants, the men had no psychological problems accepting their new faces and have been able to rejoin society, they reported.
