A multi-talented association of surgeons and doctors from the Cleveland Clinic Dermatology and Plastic Surgery Institute have successfully performed a near-total facial transplant, restoring roughly 80 percent of
a patient’s face.

Though patient details have been withheld for privacy reasons,the clinic’s online press release states that the female patient had suffered from severe facial trauma. Many functional components of the patient’s face were restored.  Surgeons utilized the latest techniques in microsurgery and transplantation to integrate facial structures like the lower eyelids and nose, while also replacing different complex tissues like arteries, nerves and skin.

Doctor Maria Siemionow, director of Plastic surgery research and team leader for the operation, has spent a major part of her career researching the procedure. She was able to direct professionals from many disciplines, including surgery, anesthesia, opthamology, dentistry and bioethics.  A cooperative approach of this magnitude is the only way to succeed in such a complex surgical procedure.

“No other aspect of our anatomy is capable of even a fraction of the complexity of motion and emotion allowed by the muscles and tissues of the face” says Dr. Siemionow.  She describes her motivation for such difficult workin a recent Wall Street Journal article; “Patients with facial disfigurement have very difficult challenges in society. We hope that one day we may be able to help the tens of thousands of patients who are quietly suffering.”