title: [From the first face replants operations to the first total face transplant: the history of surgical prowess].
abstract: Composite tissue allografts of the face were considered as science-fiction just a decade ago. They have become wonderful realities in our hospitals. Face transplantation is one of the great scientific adventures of the 21(th) century that history will remember. Physicians dreamed to give a new face to disfigured patients. Allografts of the face have become a reality thanks to breakthroughs in anatomy and plastic surgery, HLA system research, microsurgery, neurology, and immunosuppressive molecules. In 2010, two teams performed the first total face transplants in the world. They represent technical milestones in the history of transplantation. These face transplants, which have raised a lot of controversy and ethical questions, open the way for other surgical perspectives, allowing medicine to write new history, and show that progress is also made through transgression.
authors: Laboratoire d'éthique médicale et de médecine légale, faculté de médecine, université Paris Descartes, 45, rue des Saints-Pères, Paris 75006, France. drphp1@orange.fr
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Pirnay
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Herve
authors: J-P
authors: JP
authors: Meningaud
mesh_terms: D005145:Face / Q000601:surgery*; D054445:Facial Transplantation / Q000266:history*; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000266:history*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous