Research and events leading to facial transplantation.

Facial transplantation has long captured the interest and imagination of scientists, the media, and the lay public. Facial transplantation could provide an excellent alternative to current treatments for facial disfigurement caused by burns, trauma, cancer extirpation, or congenital birth defects. This article discusses the major technical, immunologic, psychosocial and ethical hurdles that have been overcome to bring facial transplantation from an idea to a clinical reality by providing the reader with a chronologic overview of the research and events that have led this exciting new treatment into the clinical arena.