Approval for face transplants from Royal College along with stern warning

Britain's Royal College of Surgeons has given their approval, albeit with some reservations, for face transplants to go ahead.

The top professional medical body in the UK says it realises the inevitability of the procedures taking place but says face transplants should be performed in a strict "research setting" and should not merely be a "surgical exercise".

Professor Sir Peter Morris, chairman of the College's Working Party on Facial Transplantation, says three years ago the College was against the work because of a number of unresolved issues.

Progress since then and the large amount of literature and experimental work, as well as a partial facial transplant in France, has meant they now are now prepared to give 'cautious support' to the procedures.

The announcement comes less than three weeks after British surgeon Peter Butler and his team were given approval from the ethics committee at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, north London, to carry out what could be the world's first full-face transplant.

The transplants could take place within a year.

The Royal College of Surgeons warns that face transplants could fail within five years and the recipient has a high chance of getting cancer because of the continuous use of anti-rejection drugs.

The college's report also says too little was known about the psychological effects of a face transplant on the donor, the recipient and their families and far more intensive follow-up would be needed than for traditional organ transplants.

The college believes face transplants should go ahead, provided certain conditions such support for the donor's family, ensuring a patient knows what will happen if the tissue is rejected and full psychological assessments are in place.

The college says that facial transplantation should only take place if all these minimal requirements can be met.