What are face transplants?
As the name suggests, face transplants are procedures wherein some or all of a patient’s face is replaced. The reason for a transplant could be facial trauma, burns, diseases, or birth defects. What types of surgeries are available for face transplants? Depending on the extent of the disfigurement and the availability of a donor, different techniques are available. Face replant A face replant uses the patient as a self-donor. In 1994, 9-year-old Sandeep Kaur became the world’s first ever face transplant recipient when she lost her face and scalp to a grain thresher. Her parents raced to the hospital with her face literally held in a plastic bag and a surgeon managed to successfully reconnect the arteries and replant the skin. Partial face transplant A partial face transplant uses pieces of a donor’s face to reconstruct a recipient’s face. The world’s first partial face transplant was carried out on November 27, 2005, in France on Isabelle Dinoire, after her face was ravaged by her pet
