British surgeons have been given ethical permission to perform the world's full face transplants, a spokesman for the Royal Free Hospital in London said today.
The UK Face Transplantation team headed by Irish-born consultant surgeon Peter Butler will be examining potential recipients and will draw up a short list of patients in the coming months.
"We have been given permission to go ahead with a series of four transplants," hospital spokesman Neil Huband said.
Mr Butler (44), has worked at Royal Free for seven years. He said the full transplant could be carried out in a 10 to 12-hour operation.
Mr Butler said he hoped face transplants would become the first choice in reconstructive surgery if the operation proved a success. "Why would you want to put a patient through so many procedures and then have to do a transplant?" he asked, adding that that was a "long way off".
Studies have shown that public support for face transplants is high, he said, and much has been done to allay people's fears. "One of the questions you get asked is 'If I donate the face of my loved one, am I going to see them walking down the street?'."
But computer modelling showed that facial characteristics following transplant are mostly those of the recipient rather than the donor, he said.
The main reason is that the skin is pliable and falls across the bone structure and cartilage of the person receiving the new face.
"There will be a transfer of things like skin colour and hair colour, but you would not be able to tell it is the donor's face," Mr Butler said.
The pioneering surgery by Professor Bernard Devauchelle and his team at Amiens in northern France sparked an ethical debate and raised questions about the psychological impact of the surgery on both the recipient and the donor's family.
Although the microsurgery techniques needed for a full transplant are well established, little is known about the psychological impact and the long-term risk of the drugs the patient will need to take to avoid rejection of the new face.
More than 400,000 men, women and children in Britain have a facial disfigurement and 250,000 are severely disfigured, according to the Face Trust, a charity which has been set up to fund research for surgical reconstruction and facial transplantation.
Agencies
Surgeons in France performed the world's first partial face transplant in a 15-hour operation last year on Isabelle Dinoire who received a new nose, lips and chin after being mauled by her dog.