Isabelle Dinoire

Isabelle Dinoire, born 1967, is the first person to undergo a partial face transplant, after her dog mauled her in May2005. Prior to the operation she could barely eat or speak but after the operation, she can do both.

Isabelle Dinoire lives in Valenciennes, Northern France. She is divorced and has two teenage daughters. Lucie, 17, and Laure, 13.

According to The Australian, she has signed a contract with British documentary maker Michael Hughesthat could make her more than £100,000 from the sale of photographs and a filmof the operation.

Some reports claimed that her daughter has said the dog was trying to wake Dinoire after she took sleeping pills in a suicideattempt. The hospital has denied this. [1] In a statement made on February 6, 2006, she admitted that "after a very upsetting week, with many personal problems, I took some pills to forget ... I fainted and fell on the ground, hitting a piece of furniture" [2]

The hospital was also worried about possible complications arising from the effect of her once again taking up smoking. According to her account at the press conference, after she came round originally, the first thing she tried to do was lighting a cigarette, to find out that she could not hold it in her lips.

Partial face transplant

Image:0,1658,5102413,00.jpg The world's first partial face transplanton a living human was carried out on Dinoire on November 272005[3]by a team of surgeons led by Professor Jean-Michel Dubernard(the surgeonwho performed the first successful hand transplantin 1998) and Professor Bernard Devauchellein Amiens, France. A triangle of face tissue including a brain-dead human's nose and mouth was grafted onto the patient [4][5]. "Scientists elsewhere have performed scalpand eartransplants. However, the claim is the first for a mouth and nose transplant. Experts say the mouth and nose are the most difficult parts of the face to transplant." [6]

A debate over the ethics of the operation emerged, however, after it was alleged that Dinoire's face had been ravaged by her labrador while she was asleep after attempting suicide by consuming an excessive amount of sleeping pills, and that her donor, Maryline St. Aubert46, had committed suicideby hanging. Concern was raised over Dinoire's ability to consent to the transplant, considering her mental state. Dubernard strenuously denied that Dinoire had attempted suicide, while Devauchelle insisted he would not have conducted the transplant if he had known that St. Aubert had hanged herself, as he feared the blood vesselsin her face would be damaged. ^{[{{fullurl:Template:FULLPAGENAME}}#endnote_nytimes]}

Whether the challenging surgery will be proven successful, is yet to be seen. It was reported on January 18, 2006that Dinoire has used her new lips to take up smoking, which doctors fear will botch her transplant by rejecting the face tissue. [7]

There has been a change in her appearance. Her original face had a wide, tilted nose, a prominent chin and thin lips. The donated face has given her a straight and narrow nose, a neater chin and a fuller mouth. Dinoire appeared in a press conference on February 6, 2006, which showed that she has partial control over the transplated muscles, although she appears unable to close her mouth fully.

References

• The Daily Mail
• Sunday Times
• Smith, Craig S. (Dec. 14, 2005). "As a Face Transplant Heals, Flurries of Questions Arise". New York Times.

Notes

1. ^  - Smith "As a Face Transplant Heals, Flurries of Questions Arise".de:Isabelle Dinoire

es:Isabelle Dinoire eo:Isabelle DINOIRE fr:Isabelle Dinoire

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