New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Reference Terms
from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Face transplant

A face transplant is a skin graft that involves replacing part or all of a patient's face with a donor face. The world's first full-face replant operation was on a nine year-old girl, whose face was ripped off when her hair was caught in a thresher. The grass-cutting machine amputated her face and scalp. The machine caught one of the girl's braids and then pulled her head in. Her mother witnessed the accident. The patient arrived at the hospital unconscious with her face in two pieces in a plastic bag. The operation was successful, although the child was left with some muscle damage as well as scarring around the perimeter where the facial skin was sutured back on. The world's first partial face transplant on a living human was carried out on November 27, 2005 by a team of surgeons led by Professor Jean-Michel Dubernard and Professor Bernard Devauchelle in Amiens, France. The patient underwent surgery to replace her original face that had been ravaged by her dog. A triangle of face tissue from a brain-dead human's nose and mouth was grafted onto the patient.

Related Stories
 


Health & Medicine News

September 26, 2026

A new analysis suggests mammograms may lead to far less breast cancer overdiagnosis than some earlier studies indicated. Researchers reexamined all eight major randomized screening trials and ...
Researchers found that scented cleaners can react with ozone indoors to create billions or trillions of invisible nanoparticles that can penetrate deep into the lungs. The pollution forms within minutes and, in some cases, may produce an inhaled ...
Tirzepatide, sold as Mounjaro and Zepbound, activated calorie-burning brown fat in obese mice, revealing a potential metabolic effect beyond appetite suppression. If confirmed in humans, the finding could help explain the drug’s powerful benefits ...
Scientists discovered rare flavoalkaloids in Cannabis leaves for the first time, along with dozens of other phenolic compounds that had never been reported in the plant. The findings suggest that ...
A major analysis suggests Phelan-McDermid syndrome, a genetic disorder closely linked to autism, may affect about 1 in 7,300 people and more than 45,000 Americans. Researchers warn that thousands of ...
Researchers used CRISPR to remove CD33 from donor stem cells, potentially giving doctors a way to attack aggressive blood cancers without destroying the healthy cells patients need after a ...
A magnet-producing bacterium extended the average lifespan of C. elegans worms by more than 43% while helping protect their neurological and intestinal health. Researchers traced much of the effect to suppression of ferroptosis, a damaging form of ...
Scientists discovered a surprising backup system that lets mammalian cells make the essential amino acid cysteine even when the pathways once considered indispensable are disabled. The same survival ...
A 70-year-old leukemia drug is still revealing new secrets. Researchers found that removing a protein called NUDT5 protected cells from the drug, even though simply blocking the protein had little effect. The unexpected result points to a hidden ...
A newly identified breakdown in communication between nerves and muscles could help explain why people lose strength as they age. Researchers were able to improve muscle strength in an animal model by targeting a key protein, raising hopes that some ...
A large study tracking more than 95,000 people suggests that how you sleep may be linked to your risk of developing dozens of diseases. People who spent more time in REM sleep had lower risks of 83 conditions, including dementia, heart failure, and ...
Children taking GLP-1 medications (such as Victoza, Saxenda, Trulicity, and Ozempic) for weight loss, prediabetes, or type 2 diabetes may face an overlooked risk: nutritional deficiencies. A new ...

Latest Headlines

updated 12:56 pm ET