Who can forget Isabelle Dinoire, the French woman who received the world’s first successful partial face transplant in 2005 after being mauled by her dog? Prior to the transplant, which included a new nose and mouth, she had difficulty eating or speaking – the transplant has enabled her to do both.

Although a handful of similar procedures have been performed throughout the world, today Spanish surgeons revealed details of a face transplant that is said to be the “most complex” such transplant performed to date. The patient had been the victim of a shooting accident that left him unable to “breathe, swallow or talk properly.” Surgeons transplanted facial skin, muscles and bone, including cheekbones, jaw, nose, lips and teeth, and have reinforced the new facial structure with metal plates. Due to the severity of his injuries, reconstructive surgery was not an option:

He was considered for a full face transplant after nine previous operations failed.

A team of 30 experts carried out the operation on 20 March at the hospital in Barcelona.

The man has since seen himself in the mirror and was calm and satisfied, the leader of the medical team, Joan Pere Barret, told a news conference.

Despite the fact that the patient will have to take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of his life, this surgery gives him a chance at a dramatically higher quality of life than he would have had otherwise. Ten years ago, such a procedure would have been science fiction. Today, it’s medical fact.

(Source: BBC News)

The cone-shaped material, named Breform, is similar to what is used in hernia operations. It’s meant to take the strain off the skin, which after a traditional breast lift can begin to stretch and sag in three years, according to The Daily Mail.

“Breform is like a bra cup without the straps,” plastic surgeon Dalvi Humzah told The Daily Mail. “Over time, the mesh gets incorporated into the breast as the body produces a fibrous tissue that holds the structure in place – like a permanent bra under the skin.”

“The scars are the same as in a traditional reduction and lift, but they don’t have the pressure of holding the breast up, as the internal mesh is doing that,” added Humzah. “So it’s unlikely the scars will stretch or the breasts will sag again.”

The internal bra surgery has been performed on 600 women worldwide, five of them in the U.K. The procedure takes about four hours under a general anesthetic and requires a two-day hospital stay. The Breform device has not been approved by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration.

(Via Instapundit)