Is a 'Full Face Transplant' Possible?

April 24, 2010— -- A team of Spanish doctors announced Thursday that they are the first in the world to successfully complete a "full facial transplant."

But a doctor who led the team that completed the first partial face transplant in the U.S. questions what "full facial transplant" actually means.

"This is an important contribution, but there was no available picture of the patient before so it is difficult to judge," said Dr. Maria Siemionow, who led the Cleveland Clinic team that performed the first U.S. face transplant /a> in 2008.

Siemionow went on to say that technically, a "full face transplant" would likely never happen.

"For someone to have no face at all -- they would not survive to start with," said Siemionow, who operated on gunshot victim Connie Culp. "They would not be a patient without a face, only with the neck."

Aside from semantics, Siemionow said doctors would not perform a face transplant without enough of the patient's original face in case the transplant did not work.

"Only patients who have enough skin or tissues in their own body ...[can] be a candidate so in case of a failure we would have the skin to cover them," said Siemionow.

She also noticed a few differences between news reports the operation performed in Spain and his teams operation on Culp.

"We have not done part of a lower jaw transplant as they are claiming," said Siemionow. "They are not mentioning any part of the eyelids and eyelids are a very important part. We have transplanted part of the lower eyelid not the upper."

Siemionow said whatever the difference between the operations, each feat is worth celebrating.

"This is another contribution and valuable," said Siemionow.

But Spanish doctors say no previous operation compares to the feat performed at Vall d'Hebron Hospital in Barcelona last month.

The lead surgeon is calling it a "full face transplant" that included all of the donor's jaw, teeth and even bone behind the lips.

Under Dr. Joan Pere Barret, a team of 30 doctors transferred skin and muscles, nose, lips, palate, teeth, cheekbones and the jaw. The team used both plastic surgery and micro-neurovascular reconstructive surgery techniques. The operation reportedly took 24 hours to perform.