In what has surely got to be the grossest thing I have ever heard of,  a UK expert in transplant ethics says that surgeons who are currently preparing to offer human face transplants have not considered the possible psychological and other complications.

A number of international medical teams are expected to carry out the first human face transplant, possibly before the end of the year, and one ‘face transplant’ surgeon says people have been ‘lining up’ for the procedure.

Julie Woodley told the recent meeting of the World Congress of Bioethics in Sydney that (important issues had been) "glossed over regarding the psychological damage to people receiving face transplants, and to the living relatives of people who had donated their face”.

Woodley, a transplant ethics expert from the University of the West of England, said it was technically possible to transplant a black rat's face onto the skull of a white rat, but no-one had tried a face transplant in humans until now.

Woodley says the plan to remove the face of the recipient and sew on the face of someone who has recently died may be problematic as “relatives of donors might give consent for their deceased loved one's face to be donated so they could see them "live on".

She also questioned whether face transplants were really a way of society preventing having to deal with the unusual, and ultimately preventing a more accepting society. "What is so wrong with having a severe disfigurement ?" she asks. "Is this eugenics by another name ?"

Woodley also predicted a "slippery slope" which could see face transplants becoming routine in the same way cosmetic surgery is today, putting increased pressure on all kinds of people to change their appearance.

She said that people who received a face transplant would also suffer the stress of intense media scrutiny. This would mean they, and the faces they had received, would lose anonymity, and may lead to bereaved relatives wanting a relationship with the person who received the new face.

Quotes from: Link