Have you ever watched the American sci-fi thriller1 “Face Off”? Doctors were able to transplant2 facial bones as well as skin, muscle and nerves. The result was that patients ended up3 looking almost exactly like their donors4. Now, it could soon happen in real life.
Irish doctor, Peter Butler, has called for public discussion in Britain before he attempts to do the world's first face transplant as early as this year.
Butler and his supporters say the operation could transform ruined lives like those of burn victims5 or someone suffering from face cancer. A face transplant could mean a deformity6 is spotted only at one metre away rather than 15 at present, according to Butler.
A new transplant technique seems to support Butler's plan. It reduces the need for powerful drugs used to stop the body from rejecting foreign body tissue7. “If it is possible, the technology could be applied to face transplants”, Butler said.
The suffering patients welcomed the idea.
“If you haven't got a ruined face then it's very hard to understand. You would do anything to give a loved one a life again,” said Christine Piff, who had been suffering from a rare facial cancer for 25 years.
However, there is also fierce opposition. Some say the idea is abnormal8 and is too far removed from medicine's ethical9 roots. Some doubt about the medical basis of Butler's ideas even with the new transplant technique.
“I think it's raising hopes unreasonably,” said Richard Nicholson, editor of a British magazine about medical ethics. “I suspect the patients don't understand it's going to be very difficult to get any of the nerves and muscles that control facial expression working again.”
Besides, Butler faces a hard job if he is to convince the British public about such a plan. Most respondents10 in his own survey, many of them doctors, said they were willing to accept a new face but few would consider donating.
Butler, who told his wife to donate his face if he died suddenly, admitted he did not know how to encourage donation. But the 40-year-old doctor felt optimistic11 that the public opinion would change.
“If I don't raise the debate we can't explore a way through this,” he said.
今年，爱尔兰医生彼得·巴特勒在尝试世界首例面部移植手术前，就曾呼吁英国公众展开讨论。
巴特勒及其支持者说，该手术可能改变烧伤病人和面癌患者等人的失意生活。巴特勒认为，毁容后的痕迹目前15米开外就能看出，而面部移植后只有1米以内才看得出来。
一种新的移植术似乎支持巴特勒的计划。有了这种技术，用来防止身体排斥异体组织的强效药就能减量服用。如果真有这种可能，该技术就能用于面部移植，巴特勒说。
病人对此表示欢迎。
“没有毁过容的人会很难理解。为了容颜再生，你会不惜一切代价的。”患有一种罕见面癌达25年之久的病人克里斯廷·匹夫说。
然而，也有人强烈反对。有人说这是一种不正常的想法，与医生的职业道德格格不入。还有人怀疑巴特勒这一想法的医学根据，即便出现那种新的移植术。
英国一家医学伦理学杂志编辑理查德·尼科尔森说，“我认为提出这种希望很不合理。我怀疑病人不理解这一点，要让控制面部表情的神经、肌肉再动起来是非常困难的。”
另外，巴特勒要想说服英国公众接受这一计划，任务还很艰巨。在他本人所做的调查当中，大部分调查对象（其中许多是医生）说他们愿意接受新脸，但考虑捐脸者却寥寥无几。
尽管巴特勒已告诉妻子，如果他突然死亡就把他的脸捐出去，但他承认不知道如何鼓励人们捐脸。不过这位40岁的医生很乐观，认为公众舆论会改变。
“如果我不提起这场争论，我们就无法探索出一条解决问题的途径。”
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1． thriller 惊险片
2． transplant vt． 移植
3． end up 以……告终
4． donor n． 捐献者donate vt． 捐献
5． victim n． 受害者
6． deformity n． 畸形
7． tissue n． （人体）组织
8． abnormal adj． 反常的
9． ethical adj． 职业道德的
10． respondent n． 调查对象
11． optimistic adj． 乐观的