Watch: The World’s First Face Transplant

THE French woman who underwent the world’s first face transplant after being mauled by her dog has died, following more than a decade on powerful immunosuppressant drugs.
In 2005, Professor Bernard Devauchelle and Dr Jean-Michel Dubernard attached a graft of the nose, lips and chin of a brain-dead donor to replace parts of her destroyed face.

Dinoire’s body had rejected the transplant last year “and she had lost part of the use of her lips,” the French Le Figaro newspaper reported. She had developed two forms of cancer after years of taking drugs to prevent her body from rejecting the transplant.

In February 2006, three months after the dramatic operation, Dinoire appeared before the press wearing a black top and pink cardigan.

The blonde, blue-eyed mother-of-two appeared to be wearing thick makeup to disguise the scars as she spoke through her rigid lips.

“When I woke up, I tried to light a cigarette and I couldn’t understand why it didn’t stay between my lips. Then I saw the pool of blood and the dog next to me,” she said. “I went to look in the mirror and was horrified.”

But the 15-hour operation gave her a new lease on life — though one she had to adjust to with a different face staring back at her in the mirror.

“It’s not hers, it’s not mine, it’s somebody else’s,” she said in 2008. “Before the operation, I expected my new face would look like me but it turned out after the operation that it was half me and half her.”

Some 15 similar surgeries have been performed since 2005 — with the world’s first “full” face transplant taking place in Spain in 2010, when a shooting accident victim received a completely new set of features.

About a year ago, a former US firefighter underwent the most extensive facial transplant after being burned in 2001. Patrick Hardison received the face of David Rodebaugh, a 26-year-old bike mechanic who was killed in an accident, the Mirrorreported.

“Now I’m just the average guy walking down the street,” Hardison, 42, said on the anniversary of his operation at NYU Langone Medical Centre in New York. “People, they can look at me and tell something’s happened, but they would never look at me and think that I’d had a face transplant.”

  • Pain or tenderness over the lump
  • Size and tenderness will increase just before your period starts
  • Size and tenderness will decrease when your period ends

Understand cystic acne. Acne is a general term that describes a variety of different types of pimples, blackheads, pustules, whiteheads and cysts. Cystic acne are nodules that are red, raised, often 2–4 mm in size and nodular and are the most severe form of acne. The infection in a cystic acne is deeper than that in other pustules or whiteheads. Cystic acne is painful.

Identify a ganglion cyst. These are the most common types of lumps found on the hand and wrist. They are not cancerous and often harmless. Filled with fluid, they can quickly appear, disappear or change in size. They do not require treatment unless they interfere with function or are unacceptable in appearance.

Determine if pain is from a pilonidal cyst. In this condition there is a cyst, abscess or dimple that forms in the crease between the buttocks that runs from the lower end of the spine to the anus. It can be caused from wearing tight clothing, excess body hair, sitting for long periods of time or obesity. Symptoms can include pus from the area, tenderness over the cyst, or the skin may be warm, tender or swollen near the tailbone. Or there may not be any symptoms beside a pit or dimple at the base of the spine.

Distinguish a Bartholin gland cyst. These glands are located on either side of the vaginal opening to lubricate the vagina. When the gland becomes obstructed, a relatively painless swelling forms called a Bartholin’s cyst. If the cyst is not infected you may not notice it. An infection can occur in a matter of days causing tenderness, fever, discomfort walking, pain with intercourse, and a tender, painful lump near the vaginal opening.

See a doctor for swelling in the testicles. All testicular swelling must be diagnosed by a physician to determine the differences between a cyst, cancerous growth, hydrocele or infection in the testicles. A testicular cysts, also called a spermatocele or epididymal cyst, is typically a painless, fluid-filled, noncancerous sac in the scrotum above the testicles. T

onsider getting a second opinion if you are not satisfied with your physician’s diagnosis and treatment. Although most epidermoid and pilar cysts do not require treatment from a physician, if you do seek medical advice and are not satisfied with the results seek a second opinion. Most sebaceous and epidermoid cysts are straightforward, but there are other conditions that may mimic these cysts.

In a case study written in the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the authors presented two cases in which melanoma and a deep oral cavity were originally mistaken for a sebaceous cyst.

There are a variety of other infectious processes that may be mistaken for a sebaceous cyst, including boils, furuncles and carbuncles.