Face-off(credit:
randomecho)
Plastic surgeons have been researching ways to repair wounds and extreme facial trauma. They have published several studies about stem cells and facial transplantation to help patients heal, according to a recent issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
Two new findings could greatly benefit diabetics. On one front, researchers have found a subpopulation of bone marrow stem cells that may heal patients faster than utilizing the whole stem cell. On the other, plastic surgeons may have found a workable scaffold that will allow them to mold and hold stem cells prior to injecting them into the body, allowing patients to grow their own tissue graft right on the wound site. These leaps in medicine could offer quicker, better relief for diabetic patients.
Any surgical patient, from breast reconstruction to a tummy tuck, may experience less pain and heal faster with pulsed magnetic fields, according to another study. Low-frequency magnetic fields are directed at the wound with a small, portable device to aid cells in healing the body.
Are we ready to move facial transplantation into mainstream medicine? Perhaps, according to another article in PRS where physicians probe the remaining hurdles to routinely performing facial transplantation. Looking at the various psychological and social consequences of being disfigured, such as discrimination and self-esteem issues, physicians agree the extreme and devastating psychological implications of being disfigured overshadow surgical and immunological issues.
SOURCE: American Society of Plastic Surgeons