Face of the future

doi:10.1136/bmj.39433.451424.AD

BMJ 2008;336:18-19 (5 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.39433.451424.AD

Feature

Profile

Face of the future

Rebecca Coombes, freelance journalist

¹ London

rcoombes@bmj.com

Pioneering plastic surgeon Peter Butler talks to Rebecca Coombesabout his battle to perform the first full face transplant,media intrusion, and professional resistance to his work

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The world’s first full facial transplant could finallyhappen in the United Kingdom this year. Peter Butler, leaderof the surgical team at the Royal Free Hospital in north Londonpreparing to carry out the controversial procedure, is uncharacteristicallyhesitant about details. One reason is his heightened sensitivityabout the British media. The press have been on red alert overButler’s activities ever since a French team performedthe first partial facial transplant in November 2005. About31 patients have approached Butler’s team seeking a facialtransplantation. The details of some of them were leaked tothe press, leading to interviews with patients’ families.Journalists will be especially keen to uncover the identityof whoever becomes the first eventual donor, Butler believes.

Butler has been working on how to do a facial transplant for15 years. In fact, one of the lead surgeons on the French teamcredits him with . . . [Full text of this article]