Woman Receives First Face Transplant from Euthanized Donor
The transplant restored vital facial functions for Carmen after severe necrosis; Spain performed 6,300 organ transplants last year, hospital said.
- In a Monday statement, Vall d'Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona said it performed a pioneering facial transplant where the donor, who underwent Spain's assisted dying procedure last autumn, donated her face. The hospital said the operation took place during the autumn of 2025.
- The recipient, Carme, had facial tissue necrosis that impaired speech, eating and sight, and compatibility required matching sex, blood group and head size plus multidisciplinary assessment teams’ evaluations.
- The complex operation, lasting between 15 and 24 hours, involved a surgical team of about 100 professionals who performed a type I partial face transplant using digital three-dimensional facial models, customised surgical guides, protective silicone masks and cutting guides.
- After the operation, doctors noted Carme is healing and beginning to look more like herself, while Elisabeth Navas praised the donor's final generous wish that gave a stranger a second chance.
- Spain's long transplant record shows that with 49.4 million people, it leads globally; Vall d'Hebron University Hospital pioneered full face transplants in 2010, while 426 assisted-dying cases in 2024 raise ethical debate.
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83 Articles
The Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona performed the first partial face transplant in the world with a donor who had received euthanasia, an intervention that was possible through the use of surgical planning technology in three dimensions.
Vall d’Hebron Hospital, located in Barcelona, Spain, successfully achieved a historic facial transplant for reconstructive medicine.This is the first facial transplant in the world from a donation from a person who died by euthanasia.Spain achieves successful facial transplant thanks to new technologiesThe group of doctors of Vall d’Hebron Hospital responsible for facial transplant, pointed out that the intervention was carried out in September …
Woman receives first ever face transplant from woman who chose to end her own life
A Spanish hospital has achieved a medical milestone by carrying out the first facial transplant in history using tissue donated by a woman who ended her life through assisted dying
World Premier in Spain: doctors performed a complete transplant on the face of a woman who chose euthanization. Benefits were a person whose face was seriously affected by a bacteria. The operation was one of the greatest complexity.
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