Leaving aside the "it's just like that film with Nic Cage", there is a high yuck factor to the news that doctors in the US are interviewing candidates for the world's first face transplant, writes Ben Rooney.
The forum at worldmagblog.com ("Daily News, Christian Views") is pretty revolted. "Oh Look! I'm wearing a dead person's face!" "That just gives me the creeps. Would the eyes come with it? Or just the nose and mouth?" "What if it rots over the facial muscles? A bunch of people would go around looking like the monster from Jeepers Creepers."
www.worldmagblog.com
But many are sympathetic, especially as the procedure is for those with severe facial disfigurement. "Today's best treatments still leave many of them with freakish, scar-tissue masks that don't look or move like natural skin ... Inner beauty be damned, these people have suffered through severe trauma and are disfigured. A face transplant is not for everyone, but there are many who would love the chance to look normal again."
www.nabeepchen.com
Others are appalled by the idea that it might become just another, albeit rather extreme, form of cosmetic surgery. "A testament as to how superficial this country has become. Sadly, I know a lot of superficial people, but this is taking it just a tad too far. Stop living vicariously in your Nip/Tuck world and be happy with life itself ... "
www.cabanablog.blogspot.com
Not that that is too much of a risk given that the complications, listed by Rightontheleftcoast, "could include infections that turn your new face black and require a second transplant or reconstruction with skin grafts. Drugs to prevent rejection will be needed lifelong, and they raise the risk of kidney damage and cancer."
www.rightontheleftcoast.blogspot.com
FilmChat highlights the problems of living with a different face. "I had a huge underbite and had jaw surgery to fix it. At first it was quite disconcerting [it] made my cheekbones more prominent and moved my nose slightly. So I had to deal with seeing a slightly different face in the mirror and it was traumatic enough ... I can't imagine changing my whole face."
www.filmchatblog.blogspot.com
