Editing Face transplant (section)

{{Short description|Medical procedure to replace a person's face using donor tissue}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox interventions |
  Name        = Face transplant |
  Image       = File:Jim Maki & Bohdan Pomahac.jpg|
  Caption     = Face transplant recipient Jim Maki (left) with plastic surgeon [[Bohdan Pomahač]]|
  ICD10       = |
  ICD9        = |
  MeshID      = D054445 |
  OPS301      = |
  OtherCodes  = |
  HCPCSlevel2 =
}}
A '''face transplant''' is a [[Organ transplantation|medical procedure to replace]] all or part of a person's [[face]] using [[Tissue (biology)|tissue]] from a donor. Part
of a field called "Vascularized Composite Tissue Allotransplantation" (VCA) it involves the transplantation of facial [[skin]], the nasal structure, the [[nose]], the [[lip]]s, the [[muscle]]s of facial movement used for expression, the [[nerve]]s that provide sensation, and, potentially, the [[bone]]s that support the face. The recipient of a face transplant will take life-long medications to suppress the [[immune system]] and fight off [[Transplant rejection|rejection]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation (VCA) Research  |date=10 June 2011 |url=https://www.myast.org/public-policy/vascularized-composite-allotransplantation-vca-research |publisher=American Society of Transplantation}}</ref>

The world's first partial face transplant on a living human was carried out on Isabelle Dinoire, in Amiens (France), in 2005.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Rifkin|first1=William J.|last2=David|first2=Joshua A.|last3=Plana|first3=Natalie M.|last4=Kantar|first4=Rami S.|last5=Diaz-Siso|first5=J. Rodrigo|last6=Gelb|first6=Bruce E.|last7=Ceradini|first7=Daniel J.|last8=Rodriguez|first8=Eduardo D.|date=August 2018|title=Achievements and Challenges in Facial Transplantation|journal=Annals of Surgery|volume=268|issue=2|pages=260–270|doi=10.1097/SLA.0000000000002723|issn=1528-1140|pmid=29489486|s2cid=3708407}}</ref> The world's first full face transplant was completed in Spain in 2010.<ref name="nash"/> Turkey,<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/206489--turkish-success-in-face-transplant |title = Turkish success in face transplant}}</ref> France, the United States, and Spain (in order of total number of successful face transplants performed) are considered the leading countries in the research into the procedure.<ref name=":0" /> As of 2025, there have been around 50 face transplants.

The ethics and benefits of face transplants are still being debated, and in 2019 a major UKRI grant was awarded to the historian [[Fay Bound Alberti]] to work with surgeons and patients and determine whether they are successful. Funded by the [[UK Research and Innovation|UKRI]] the [https://interface.org.uk Interface] project brought together surgeons from all around the world to determine what needed to be done to improve the procedure, and that work supported a more recent [[National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine|NASEM]] study to improve patient care and expectations. Their [https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/28580/advancing-face-and-hand-transplantation-principles-and-framework-for-developing report] is now available online.