A new face

Abstract

The ethical barriers seem to pose the greatest challenge to performing facial transplantation with proponents and critics fiercely debating their positions. Chapter 1 outlines the main ethical issues and events that have preluded clinical facial transplantation. In particular, human hand transplantation programs and their impact on face transplantation have been reviewed. Although the first face transplants already have been performed, the social and psychological debates concerning the ethics and desirability of the procedure continue. Chapter 2 elaborates on key psychological and social factors that we believe are central for addressing the psychosocial challenges necessary to move face transplantation into mainstream medicine. The psychosocial sequelae of facial disfiguration, how face transplantation may relieve those problems, and inclusion and exclusion criteria for the selection of patients are discussed