First Face Transplant Done in America

In Cleveland, reconstructive surgeon Dr. Maria Siemionow and a team of specialists performed the first face face transplant done in America by replacing 80 percent of a disfigured woman's face by using the face of a female cadaver. Many details of the surgery have not been released but surgeons that do this usually transplant skin, facial nerves, muscles, and other deep tissue.

Skin is considered an organ and it still runs the risk of the body rejecting it, as with other organ transplants. Recipients of transplants have the risk of deadly complications, such as the new facial tissue attacking the recipient's body and the recipient's body attacking the bone marrow or the transplanted face to cause inflammation at the area of the new tissue. They also have to take immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of their lives to prevent the body rejecting the organ. This raises the risk of cancer and other diseases.

This is the fourth one done worldwide. Two have been done in France and one was done in China. The first one was a partial face transplant done in France in 2005 on a woman who had been mauled by her dog and received a new nose, chin, and lips from a brain-dead donor. Another was done in France on man disfigured by a genetic disease. One was done in China on a farmer that had been disfigured by being mauled by a bear.

Woman Stopped While Trying to Bring Skeleton on Plane

A 62 year old woman was stopped at a Munich airport after baggage control handlers found the skeleton of her brother in a plastic bag with her luggage. She and her 63 year old friend were taken away by police after a scan of the plastic bag showed a human skull and other bones. The women were trying to travel from Brazil to Italy.

After questioning, it was told that they woman was trying to fulfill the last wish of her brother to be buried in Italy, who had died 11 year earlier in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The woman gave the appropriate papers from Brazilian authorities for the transport and was allowed to take the skeleton to Italy.