How much does face transplant cost?

The first U.S. face transplant cost about $350,000 – a fee comparable to or less than the cost of traditional reconstructive surgeries for severe facial wounds, CNNhealth.com reports.

How many successful face transplants have there been?

To date, there have been a total of 28 reported face transplants, but it is believed that several more may have been completed without formally being reported, totaling over 30 face transplants.

Has a full face transplant ever been done?

Oscar (shown here at a 2010 news conference), received the world’s first full face transplant in March 2010, carried out by a 30-person team. Doctors said that after 18 months of physical therapy, he is expected to regain up to 90 percent of his facial functions.

What happens if your body rejects a face transplant?

Q: What is the risk of the recipient’s immune system rejecting the new face? A: All patients undergoing transplantation will take anti-rejection medications for life. Every patient has an episode of rejection, which may manifest itself as a change in color, patchiness, swelling, and/or a rash.

Are face transplants covered by insurance?

Insurance companies will not entirely pay the cost because face transplant is still considered an investigative procedure. Private institutions and the government, through research grant money, have partially covered the expenses of the 14 face transplants in the United States.

How long do people with face transplants live?

The first recipient of a face transplant lived for 10 years, but Dr. Gelb acknowledges that with so few cases performed, life expectancy can’t really be estimated.

What happens if a face transplant is rejected?

What happened to Molly’s face on the good doctor?

Molly was a patient at St. Bonaventure Hospital. Her face was disfigured in an accident involving her father’s gun. Thanks to face transplant, Molly received a new face belonging to a young girl who died after a car accident.

What was the first successful face transplant?

In March 2008, the treatment of 30-year-old Pascal Coler of France, who has neurofibromatosis , ended after he received what his doctors call the world’s first successful almost full face transplant.

What you should know about face transplants?

A face transplant is an intricately complicated, personalized medical procedure that replaces as much as 100 percent of the recipient’s facial tissue with that of a deceased donor . The surgery can integrate many different functional components, such as nose and lower eyelids as well as different tissue types including, skin, muscles, bony structures, arteries veins and nerves.

Is a ‘full face transplant’ possible?

The world’s first full face transplant was completed in Spain in 2010. Turkey, France, the United States and Spain (in order of total number of successful face transplants performed) are considered the leading countries in the research into the procedure.

How is a face transplant performed?

The donor face is then placed on ice for transport to the hospital where the recipient is in the operating room being made ready to accept the transplant. Surgeons use microscopic needles and threads to first connect the blood vessels from the recipient to the donor’s so that oxygen-rich blood can perfuse the transplanted face.