title: Is Mexico Ready for Face Transplantation?
abstract: With the limitations of surgical reconstructive procedures, the growing number of gunshot wounds, burns, and work accidents in Mexico that result in complex facial deformities leaves only 1 option-face transplantation. The National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition "Salvador Zubiran" (INCMNSZ) has performed transplants since 1971. We at INCMNSZ undertook the 1st bilateral upper-limb transplantation in Latin America in 2012. We are willing to continue in this manner toward conducting face transplantation at our institute. To this end, we identified and solved various challenges. The 1st challenge was acceptance and inclusion of vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA) within general Mexican health law and approval of the face transplantation procedure. Subsequently, the health ministry provided a license to INCMNSZ to perform the procedure. The 2nd challenge concerned who would pay for the procedure. The costs will be paid by the patient (1st-party payer), social security institutions (2nd-party payers), and the health ministry (3rd-party payer). The 3rd challenge was to maintain ongoing surgical training of the team using cadavers. The fourth challenge was to locate donors; toward this end, we developed a campaign for promoting face donation in social media, making a comic book, and training organ and tissue coordinators to further VCA. Thus, INCMNSZ has the legal, administrative, medical, and surgical wherewithal to accomplish face transplantation.
authors: Department of Plastic Surgery, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran, Mexico City, Mexico. Electronic address: iglesias@drmartiniglesias.com.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Iglesias
authors: Department of Plastic Surgery, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Butrón
authors: Department of Plastic Surgery, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors: A I
authors: AI
authors: Osuna-Leal
authors: Department of Plastic Surgery, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Abarca-Perez
authors: Department of Plastic Surgery, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors: M J
authors: MJ
authors: Sosa-Ascencio
authors: Department of Plastic Surgery, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors: M A
authors: MA
authors: Moran-Romero
authors: Department of Plastic Surgery, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors: A U
authors: AU
authors: Cruz-Reyes
authors: Department of Plastic Surgery, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors: F J
authors: FJ
authors: Pineda-Gutierrez
authors: Department of Plastic Surgery, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors: D A
authors: DA
authors: Leon-Lopez
authors: Department of Plastic Surgery, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors: M N
authors: MN
authors: García-Alvarez
authors: Department of Transplantation, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Alberu
authors: Department of Transplantation, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Vilatoba
authors: Department of Anesthesiology, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors: R P
authors: RP
authors: Leal-Villalpando
authors: Department of Anesthesiology, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Zamudio-Bautista
authors: Department of Anesthesiology, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors: V M
authors: VM
authors: Acosta-Nava
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Gonzalez
mesh_terms: D002102:Cadaver; D005145:Face / Q000601:surgery*; D005151:Facial Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D054445:Facial Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D014019:Tissue Donors; D063986:Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation / Q000379:methods