Les Yeux Sans Visage

I was fascinated to read about the success of the face transplant performed on Isabelle Dinoires, the French mother of two. Science has done what most thought was impossible, or at least thought somewhat out of bounds. Dinoires has a new face and can feel like a human again.

I hope she lives a long life now that she’s been given some semblance of a normal one, thanks to her doctors and the donor, Maryline Saint Aubert. Even so, I don’t expect this to happen. Dinoires’s face was ripped off by her dog after she passed out from a drug overdose. Some descriptions of the “attack” make it sound like the dog was vicious, but I don’t think that was the case.

Her dog was in fact a Labrador, a breed about as menacing as a bag of donuts. Dinoires had overdosed on sleeping pills in what some allege may have been a suicide attempt. Instead of attacking her, I believe the dog was only trying to save her life (the dog was later euthanized).

That was just seven months ago. If Dinoires was indeed attempting to end her life, I wonder if this ordeal has changed her mind, showing her the value of life. Then again, if ever she had the motivation to end her life, those seven months spent without a face provided her ample opportunity.

I’d be willing to give her the benefit of the doubt if she hadn’t resumed her chain-smoking habit against her doctors’ orders. Smoking restricts blood flow to the tissues, which can trigger rejection of her new face. On the other hand, one doctor pointed out the tremendous stress she’s been going through.

Will she be able to handle the tremendous stress? Will she successfully avoid becoming some sort of oddity? If she was at one time trying to end her life, how have those seven months changed her mind?

I really, really hope I’m wrong, but I can’t help but wonder if we’ll be seeing that face again.