by Dr. Anurag Agarwal (Secretary/Treasurer FSFPRS)The Florida Society of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery annual meeting was held in Naples, FL, this past weekend. The keynote speaker was Dr. Daniel Alam, from the Cleveland Clinic. He was the lead surgeon who performed the first U.S. face transplant and is the surgeon who is currently caring for the victim of last year’s chimpanzee attack.
Dr. Alam reviewed the ethical dilemmas facing face transplant surgeons, the pre and post-op course of the first face transplant recipient, and future challenges. We were proud to have this accomplished colleague at our local state society meeting this year. For critics of the procedure, he summed up the rationale behind face transplant surgery by quoting the patient, who simply said, “I want to feel human again.”
