Sociological considerations in face transplantation.

Barker et al’s thoughts on face transplantation were most interesting, thought provoking and controversial.1 Surgery is not a subject with whom one outside of the medical profession feels comfortable and facial surgery would certainly not be considered an after-dinner topic. It is for reasons of human discomfort with facial disfigurement that such developments are viewed as a leap as opposed to gradual progress. The 1996 Hollywood thriller – “Face Off ” depicts the “big screen” interpretation of face transplantation and its implications, but behind the science fiction and the directors camera there is an emerging reality which must be discussed by all sections of society.