‘That is the skin of my brother’: alterity, hybridity and media representations of facial transplantation

In this paper, I explore the 2012 face transplant performed on US recipient Richard Norris and how it was represented by the media as a ‘makeover story’. Informed by press coverage from the date of the transplant to the present day, I examine a widely viewed and critically acclaimed investigative report that aired on CBS’s 60 Minutes entitled ‘My Brother’s Keeper’. Through a close reading of both its form and content, I claim that the report’s makeover story consists of four key themes: heroic medicine and miraculous science; appearance-based stigma and social alienation; appearance-based conformity and social assimilation; and subjective alterity and embodied hybridity. In doing so, I contend that the report’s themes contain the widespread ambivalence about facial transplantation by confirming prevailing assumptions about medical science and how it creates normal people who live good lives. That said, I also contend that the report’s themes complicate these assumptions by highlighting how facial transplantation invariably involves immediate encounters with otherness and corporeal interconnectedness. I conclude that the report’s makeover story—characterised as it is by the constraints of the before-and-after format—must be rethought and, ultimately, reworked if we wish to do justice to face transplant recipients.

Maxillofacial Bony Considerations in Facial Transplantation

Alloplastic facial transplantation has become a new rung on the proverbial reconstructive ladder for severe facial wounds in the past couple of decades. Since the first transfer including bony components in 2006, numerous facial allotransplantations across many countries have been successfully performed, many incorporating multiple bony elements of the face. There are many unique considerations to facial transplantation of bone, however, beyond the considerations of simple soft tissue transfer. Herein, we review the current literature and considerations specific to bony facial transplantation focusing on the pertinent surgical anatomy, preoperative planning needs, intraoperative harvest and inset considerations, and postoperative protocols.

Facial Transplantation

Facial transplantation represents a unique surgical solution for challenging facial injury patterns in which conservative reconstructive techniques fail to provide a satisfactory functional and aesthetic result. With advances in the field of vascularized composite allotransplantation over the past 15 years, more than 40 of these procedures have been performed worldwide with two recent reports of facial re-transplantation. In this article we discuss the multidisciplinary approach that is required for successful transplantation as well as the surgical techniques used and postoperative management. With ongoing research, recent technological innovation, and increased efforts to promote greater generalizability and transparency in this field, patients with these complex injuries will continue to see improvements in their treatment options, and thus quality of life.

Flap Tubing And Waltzing For Complex Facial Reconstruction In The West Indies

Ballistic facial wounds present daunting reconstructive challenges to the most experienced of surgeons. The early Waltzing method of tissue transfer, perfected by Sir Gillies, was superseded by free flaps and facial transplantation as methods for facial reconstruction. In the low resource setting, however, the Waltz may be the only suitable option. This case study describes the use of the Waltz for facial reconstruction at the Port of Spain General Hospital in Trinidad. The subject sustained a gunshot wound to the face resulting in complex midface and mandibular defects. Here, bilateral deltopectoral flaps were used to replace destroyed soft tissue.