Facial transplantation

The face has functional and aesthetic importance. It represents the most identifiable aspect of an individual's physical being. Its role in a person's identity and ability to communicate can therefore not be overstated. The face also plays an important role in certain functional needs such as speech, communicative competence, eye protection, and emotional expressiveness. The latter function bears significant social and psychological import, because two thirds of our communication takes place through nonverbal facial expressions. Accordingly, the significance of reconstruction of the face is indisputable. Yet despite application of meticulous techniques and the development of innovative approaches, full functional and aesthetic reconstruction of the face remains challenging. This is because optimal reconstruction of specialized units of the face have to address both the functional and aesthetic roles of the face.