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Saving Face

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rmric0.wedding.photographer.and.manny
12/16/08

In reply to Saving Face
Excuse me, but I saw a documentary about this years ago where an FBI agent used this surgery to infiltrate a highly secretive criminal organization, but that's where things went wrong.

I think they used Nicholas Cage and John Travolta as re-enactors.
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Aesop's Foibles. YES.
12/16/08

In reply to Saving Face
I read somewhere that in the midst of all the surgeries, she had contemplated suicide because it was so hard for her to identify with herself when she had a new face. I can definitely see why she (or anyone else, for that matter) would feel that way. It also makes me think of that makeover show where the women featured had major facial surgeries i.e. nose jobs, jaw realignments, lip and cheek implants etc. and afterwards, some of them had to have therapy. It would be extremely difficult to recognize yourself, and extremely easy to disassociate and become horribly depressed. That being said, she looks fantastic and I hope she's doing well.
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HistoricUpstart
12/16/08

In reply to Saving Face
In the last picture, at 18 mos. after her surgery, she's definitely starting to look more like she did before the whole attack.

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msAnthrope
12/16/08

In reply to Saving Face
some charity should make these surgeries available to the women in the middle east who had their faces burned with acid...
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Kali Mama
12/16/08

In reply to Saving Face
It doesn't work that way. Your bone structure is the same so the transplant is a decent approximation. It's not like face/off or something.
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Samanthrax
12/16/08

@Kali Mama: Yes. The French woman has commented that she feels like her face looks like a combination of her old face and her new face... I'd imagine this is easier than having not much of a face at all.
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YourScreenplaySucks
12/16/08

In reply to Saving Face
Presumably the underlying bone structure remains the same, so the end result can't be utterly unrecognizable, can it? And as someone with pets and a penchant for slamming vodka shots, I'm pleased with the advances in this field should I ever need it. Before & After:

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LindsayC: doctoral hilarity ensues
12/16/08

@Your Screenplay Sucks: Thanks for posting the pics. She looks lovely and like herself.
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SisterMaryMartha
12/16/08

@Your Screenplay Sucks: Actually the pic on the left was right after the transplant. I think it takes a while to adjust, plus she must have had further surgeries. Still, she looks amazing, considering.
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YourScreenplaySucks
12/16/08

@SisterMaryMartha: @homochka: Yeah, you're right. She had surgery before the one on the left was taken and at least 2 surgeries afterwards. Wow, that's even more impressive.
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hatepaperdoll
12/16/08

In reply to Saving Face
Oh god. I'm glad this surgery exist, but reading about freaks me out, as losing my face in an industrial blender is one of my top irrational fears, right up there with getting a moth in my mouth and having to eat a bowl full of eyelashes.
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J.D.Regent
12/16/08

@hatepaperdoll: pfft. moth in the mouth is nothing compared to bat in the hair.

I too am filled with an irrational fear of this surgery, although I blame a trigger response based on the movie Face/Off, which never fails to send me into paroxysms of hate.
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BlondeGrlz
12/16/08

@J.D.Regent: I've had a bat in my hair, and can say with all certainty it is just about the most horrible thing that can happen to a person. Not irrational at all.
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DangerMouse
12/16/08

@hatepaperdoll: Mine is getting hit by a bicyclist while I walk down the sidewalk. Talk about silent but deadly! I don't think it would result in a face transplant though... just a face plant.
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J.D.Regent
12/16/08

@BlondeGrlz is having a BlondeBoyz!: o.m.g. I really wanted to believe that one was just an urban myth. I am seriously so sorry. And will accept any advice that will help me avoid this particular fate. Recently I cut my hair short. Hopefully that will help.
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J.D.Regent
12/16/08

@DangerMouse (was ejc....): I actually peripherally know someone who was KILLED by a bicyclist while walking down the street. Freak accident, to be sure.
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hatepaperdoll
12/16/08

@J.D.Regent: @18thfloor: We used to get bats in our apartment in university, oh god...they are so unpredictable, which is what I hate about moths too.

@DangerMouse (was ejc....): I hate it when people ride their bikes on the sidewalk grrrrr.

@my cousin is an ape: @18thfloor: It's my cousin Erin's fault, we having a gross out contest...she won.
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undomesticgoddess doesn't sleep a wink
12/16/08

@hatepaperdoll: I hate moths. Moth in the mouth is a big fear of mine, but so is moth in the ear.
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formergr
12/16/08

@hatepaperdoll: I have gotten a moth in my mouth!!! It was a giant moth in southern Africa (they were practically swarming our campsite due to the campfire), and I was trying to eat, and gah!! Bad flashback now...
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BlondeGrlz
12/16/08

@J.D.Regent: Keep your chimney flue and your bedroom door closed. Also, don't get a cat, as it was my kitten who caught the still-living bat and put it in my hair.
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AuntieEm (robots from the year 2000 > zombies)
12/16/08

@formergr: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH">AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...! *deep breath* AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...!

I want to go take a really hot shower now, my skin is crawling.

also I have a terrible fear of taking a drink out of a can of pop that a bee has flown into.
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BlondeGrlz
12/16/08

In reply to Saving Face
I'm hoping this means personality transplants are just around the corner. There are so many douche bags in need this time of year.
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tonightineed is actually Mrs. Ziegler-Spock
12/16/08

@BlondeGrlz is having a BlondeBoyz!: Honey, guess what I got the neighbors for christmas!
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tonightineed is actually Mrs. Ziegler-Spock
12/16/08

In reply to Saving Face
This is obviously some sort of vast left-wing conspiracy to ease the western world into cloning. bluff: i'm callin it.
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SisterMaryMartha
12/16/08

In reply to Saving Face
Wow- she looks great! That was such a weird story...
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DangerMouse
12/16/08

@SisterMaryMartha: My first thought, too--she looks amazing!
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sportz.star
12/16/08

In reply to Saving Face
Do you think you'd get rid of all your old pictures of yourself? Maybe just keep some childhood ones? I would think it would be constantly unsettling to look at pictures of myself that weren't my face any more.
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rosasparks
12/16/08

@sportz.star: Ask Priscilla Presley. Or Jocelyn Wildenstein.
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DangerMouse
12/16/08

@rosasparks: Michael Jackson, ftw.
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AthertonMerriweather
12/16/08

In reply to Saving Face
Yet lobotomy's still aren't catching on...
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million.dollar.mouth.
12/16/08

@AthertonMerriweather: I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.
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WaltzingMatilda
12/16/08

In reply to Saving Face
I totally understand this surgery, but it still freaks me out. I know the odds are slim - but how messed up would it be if you suddenly saw the face of someone that passed away?
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million.dollar.mouth.
12/16/08

@WaltzingMatilda: Gah! I think I'd rather see a ghost. Seriously.
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sportz.star
12/16/08

@WaltzingMatilda: At least you (likely) never met the person whose face you're now wearing. Yikes. That's so creepy to think about wearing someone else's face.
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LindsayC: doctoral hilarity ensues
12/16/08

@WaltzingMatilda: It doesn't really work like that- bone structure is what makes your face look like your face. That was one of the biggest stumbling blocks to making this surgery possible- family members didn't want to see their dead relatives and so they wouldn't agree to donate the skin.
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WaltzingMatilda
12/16/08

@LindsayC: doctoral hilarity ensues: Yeah - I figured there would be some difference - but - gah - I still imagine the worst case scenario with this stuff. I mean - overcoming ridiculous odds to actually run into that person wearing the "loved one mask", etc.
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GF_AdventureGrl
12/16/08

In reply to Saving Face
I can't even imagine what it'd be like to look in the mirror and see someone else looking back at me..
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DangerMouse
12/16/08

@twist15: I was thinking about that after the plastic surgery thread yesterday--if I made any major changes, I would just confuse myself.
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AnneBoleyn
12/16/08

@twist15:

I do, I was in a car wreck when I was seventeen and crushed my face (half of it is titanium now)...it takes some getting used to!
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AuntieEm (robots from the year 2000 > zombies)
12/16/08

@AnneBoleyn: a friend of mine did that too. metal face and all
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morninggloria
12/16/08

In reply to Saving Face
While face transplants are a relatively new innovation, face plants have been occurring on our nation's sidewalks for hundreds of years.
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Kivrin
12/16/08

@morninggloria: Dude, you are killin' me today!
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Anna
12/16/08

@morninggloria: Jesus Christ, woman, you've been full of funny all morning. Are you angling for a job? ;)
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rosasparks
12/16/08

@morninggloria: I love you.

ps I actually faceplanted this morning. It's sleeting/snowing and I wiped the fuck out. It really hurt. minisparks couldn't stop cackling. I dropped her off at school & she was STILL laughing.

It's not funny!
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haguenite
12/16/08

@rosasparks: Is minisparks Thai? Thai people always laugh at you when bad stuff happens (like falling down or a scooter that won't kickstart, not, you know, death) and generally won't help you until you laugh along with them.

I find it quite a fun way to deal with life's little mishaps.
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morninggloria
12/16/08

@rosasparks: Once, Boyfriend (a Florida native whose first Midwestern winter was last winter) slipped and fell thrice on the same patch of ice. I didn't see it, which is good because I would have laughed myself into a coma.
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Jack_Burton
12/16/08

@morninggloria: COTD - feh sure!
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DangerMouse
12/16/08

@haguenite: I am not Thai, but when I wipe out, I laugh hysterically.

I think it makes people even more concerned than they were when I had just fallen.

Later, I call my mom and tell her how much I wish she could have been there to appreciate it.
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rosasparks
12/16/08

@morninggloria: @haguenite: minisparks is a 6 year old hoot, and my guess is, my faceplant probably looked hilarious. I I'd seen myself do I, I'd probably had wet my pants with laughter, too.

I didn't laugh along with her because I was in pain. (and no, we're not Thai.)

ps I grew up in AK and my mother faced planted in front of Safeway once and I laughed so hard, I cried and had to sit on the ground. Apparently, it's a genetic thing - intense clumsiness and the laughing at it, as well.
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ellaesther
12/16/08

@morninggloria: This is a bandwagon I fully endorse: You are too stinkin' funny! And this on a day on which funny is very valuable to me, so I'll be making a deposit in your "jewels in heaven" account. *ca-chink, ca-chink*

Also @BrutallyHonestBabes: I am now saying that FOREVER! Next time my 5 year old and I compare tummies, fer shure (though maybe minus the "bish." She is 5. And my daughter).
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undomesticgoddess doesn't sleep a wink
12/16/08

@DangerMouse (was ejc....): I do that. My mom loves to see me fall.
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shorty63136
12/16/08

@morninggloria: *chokes on Cheerios* Dear gawd, woman! LOL
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