Third Face Transplant Signals Advancements, Acceptance

Jan. 23, 2007 — -- With the world's third face transplant patient resting in the recovery room, surgeons have once again shown that the operation is viable.

But the third success begs the question: Will the procedure ever become commonplace?

"Used to be, it was a curiosity," said Dr. Peter Costantino in an interview with ABC Medical Editor Dr. Tim Johnson on the ABC News Now "Healthy Life" program.

"Now we're seeing several centers developing capabilities, of which we hope to be one," he said. "You're going to see in major centers around the world the opportunity to have parts or significant amounts of the face replaced depending on the needs of the patient."

But while there may be more of these procedures in the years to come, each case still comes with its own set of special considerations.

"These are very specific cases," said Dr. Scott Levin, professor and chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Duke University Medical Center. "They are not mainstream by any stretch of the imagination."

Surgeons in France announced the completion of the partial transplant procedure on Tuesday. The 29-year-old patient's face was disfigured by a genetic disorder known as neurofibromatosis -- a condition that causes large but benign tumors to form on the nerves. It is sometimes referred to as the "Elephant Man disease" after James Merrick, who suffered from the disease in the 1800s.

"The lower part of the face was completely destroyed by this benign tumor, and we had to remove everything," said Dr. Laurent Lantieri, lead surgeon and head of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Henri Mondor Hospital in the Paris suburb of Creteil, during a press conference Tuesday.

"As we removed all this part of the face, which are the lips, the nose and part of the cheeks, the only way we could reconstruct it correctly was to do a face transplant."

By the end of the 16-hour procedure, surgeons said the patient was recovering well. However, doctors will only be able to know for certain whether the operation was a success in the days to come.

"We have to wait to see if the nerves will grow, and we have to wait to see if the face will move, and finally we have to wait to see if the patient will be able to go back to a normal social life," Lantieri said.