# Would you get an emergency face transplant if it meant… ? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 19, 2005, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-an-emergency-face-transplant-if-it-meant/331778 "2005-11-19T05:51:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-an-emergency-face-transplant-if-it-meant/331778/21 "2005-12-04T22:49:33Z")
Well, gee. Seeing as how they can artificially alter skin color (cite: Michael Jackson), I don’t get why this question is even being asked. Which renders my answer a definite “yes.” ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-an-emergency-face-transplant-if-it-meant/331778/22 "2005-12-05T03:07:00Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > IANAD, but… unless you’re talking identical twins there will be rejection without immuno-suppressive drugs. Skin is a tissue that is especially prone to rejection, or so I’ve read. > > Is it possible the skin grafts on the mom in question were only temporary? Donor skin is sometimes used to cover burns, even though it will be eventually rejected, simply because you _need_ to keep your innard covered. I believe the technique is to use the patient’s skin, but when that is available in limited amounts you use donor skin to make up the lack of patient skin in order to cover as much as possible. Then, when the skin graft sites heal, you can harvest more of the patient’s skin to cover areas that are now uncovered due to rejection of the donor skin. Eventually, you re-cover the entire patient. > > Doesn’t sound like fun _at all_. I emailed my mom to fight my ignorance at the source and here was her response - “Grandma’s skin was only to cover the burns to keep them from becoming infected while trying to heal. They either sloughed off or were removed later on.” And the removal process she’s described to me previously involves soakings and stiff brushes. Beyond unfun. My mom was about 5 when she was burned and simply lacked enough unburned skin to cover the burns. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-an-emergency-face-transplant-if-it-meant/331778/23 "2005-12-05T04:37:33Z")
Is it Antonio Banderras’ face? I’d take it. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-an-emergency-face-transplant-if-it-meant/331778/24 "2005-12-05T10:15:05Z")
> [@Spatial Rift 47](#): > > Well, gee. Seeing as how they can artificially alter skin color (cite: Michael Jackson), I don’t get why this question is even being asked. Which renders my answer a definite “yes.” Michael Jackson claims that he has vitiligo (patchy loss of skin pigment) and uses makeup to even out his skin tone. So your confusion about this question makes sense only if you don’t mind spending an hour or two each day applying enough makeup to look like those two black guys in _White Chicks_. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-an-emergency-face-transplant-if-it-meant/331778/25 "2005-12-05T10:38:11Z")
I would accept the face from the different race doner. I would draw the line at a different species, however. Could you imagine being the pig-faced man/woman? Slight Hijack: If you had to choose the face of another species, which one would you choose? ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-an-emergency-face-transplant-if-it-meant/331778/26 "2005-12-05T10:55:47Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Apparently it is now possible, or will soon be possible, to perform [face transplants](http://news.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=1689402005) in much the same way that organ transplants are done. Apparently, it was actually done, last Sunday, in France, on a 38-year old woman who had a severy disfigured lowerf face due to extensive dog-bites. [Here’s the CNN-article.](http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/11/30/france.face/) ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-an-emergency-face-transplant-if-it-meant/331778/27 "2005-12-05T11:14:20Z")
I would NOT accept a face transplant from my own race or any other, the whole idea squicks me out, I would much prefer death. Seriously death does not scare me…attaching me to someone else face??? EEEEKKK Surely I am dead then? I have become them? I just don’t look like me forever? I am VERY pro giving an organ but very anti recieving one. I will happily die less a few bits but I WILL never GAIN even one bit. I will happily die before receiving any donor bit. I personally could not live with the guilt that my life was dependent on someone elses death. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-an-emergency-face-transplant-if-it-meant/331778/28 "2005-12-05T12:11:56Z")
> [@Tibbycat](#): > > Slight Hijack: If you had to choose the face of another species, which one would you choose? Ferrets are pretty cute. 'Course, they’re also pretty tiny compared to humans. Then again, so are most animals. If you want a face transplant from another species, your options are pretty limited. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-an-emergency-face-transplant-if-it-meant/331778/29 "2005-12-05T13:43:14Z")
Indeed, you’d have to be pretty micro-cephalic for a ferret-face to work. I would choose an orangutan, an English sheepdog or even a small hippopotamus before accepting a donor face from, say, Michael Jackson or Yasser Arafat (even before he died). :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-an-emergency-face-transplant-if-it-meant/331778/30 "2005-12-06T01:03:55Z")
> [@calm kiwi](#): > > I will happily die before receiving any donor bit. I personally could not live with the guilt that my life was dependent on someone elses death. Would you accept a kidney from a live donor? How about blood transfusion? Blood transfusions actually _are_ organ transplants. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-an-emergency-face-transplant-if-it-meant/331778.md?page=1)