French perform first double face transplant

In a groundbreaking procedure, doctors in France have performed the world’s first double face transplant.

The man, who is in his 40s but hasn’t been named, received a face transplant seven years ago, The Telegraph reported. In November, his body started to reject the new face, so doctors placed him in an induced coma while contemplating the next step.

Last week, physicians in Paris performed the second transplant. It will still be several weeks before they can say with any certainty whether or not it was successful.

Dr. Hatem Amer says that while this is the first known double face transplant, there is extensive data on the suc- cess of re- t ransplanting other organs such as kidneys. And the success rate usually isn’t good.

“In general a repeat transplant does worse on average than a first transplant,” said Amer, the medical director of the Obaid Centre for Reconstructive Transplant Surgery in Minnesota.

However, more sophisticated testing procedures have been developed to make sure a donor is the best match possible.

“If we dig into the reasons why (a transplant might not be successful) and try to mitigate them if possible, there’s no reason why a repeat transplant won’t in fact do better than the first transplant,” said Amer.

If the transplant does prove successful, it will mark the second time France has made medical history in the field. In 2005 doctors there performed the first- ever face transplant surgery on Isabelle Dinoire, who was mauled by her own dog. Doctors grafted lips, a nose and a chin for Dinoire, which came from a 46-year-old donor.

In September 2016, Dinoire died of cancer at the age of 49.

There have been nearly 40 face transplants done across the world in seven countries. Six patients have died following the procedure, and the chance of rejection remains high.

People who undergo a transplant must be on im mu no suppressant drugs for the rest of their life in order to prevent rejection of their new organ. But these drugs have a lot of side effects, namely an increased risk of infection and of developing certain cancers.

Because face transplants are not considered a life-saving surgery, the risk associated with these drugs could limit the number of face transplants in the future.

“One day if immunosuppression becomes a nonissue — if it happens — you might see just a nose transplant or just simple parts of the face,” said Dr. Samir Mardini, surgical director of the Obaid Centre for Reconstructive Transplant Surgery. “Until then, it has to be a significant enough deformity both functionally and aesthetically to warrant going on immunosuppressants.”

At the Obaid Centre for Reconstructive Transplant Surgery ( which has performed one face transplant surgery), Dr. Mardini said the procedure is usually considered a last option.

“Someone has to really explore all the conventional methods f or reconstruction, and only when they feel there’s no satisfactory options that will be achieved by standard methods, do they get referred to a face transplant,” he said. “It’s never an easy decision to make.”

Canada has yet to perform a face transplant, but according to head and neck surgeon Dr. Mark Taylor, the reason has more to do with ethical concerns rather than technical expertise.

“I think there would be no problem actually carrying out a face transplant, we have all the infrastructure and surgical capabilities,” he said. “It’s just a bit of a controversial procedure and there are a lot of ethical issues that go a long with it, which is the biggest hurdle to overcome.”

The transplant could also be incredible expensive — costing up to $1 million, said Taylor.