EXTREMELY EXTREME MAKEOVER

After years of ethical debates and moral negotiations, the world’s first face transplant is in the final planning stages and will be carried out as soon as a perfect experimental subject is found. The field has been cut to five men and seven women who are undergoing intense psychological examinations in their bid to become the world’s first recipient of an entirely new face and identity. The candidates have all suffered total facial disfigurement due to extreme burns and are unable to have their appearance significantly altered by other surgical methods. The twelve were also chosen based on their ability to cope with the unknown but potentially dramatic emotional and physical side effects of the radical procedure. As well as months of analysis by a team of surgeons and psychiatrists, the first patient will need to sign a waiver which acknowledges that the surgery is so novel and its risks so unknown that doctors are unable to give “informed consent.” The waiver goes on to warn: “Complications 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...After the transplant you might feel remorse, disappointment, or grief or guilt toward the donor. The clinic will try to shield your identity, but the press likely will discover it.” (USA Today)