The New Health Dialogue

It might seem like the New Health Dialogue comes down pretty hard on "medical innovation" sometimes. Yes, we are skeptical of the "new" and the "high-tech" -- for example DiVinci robotic surgery or 64-slice CT scanning -- because there is often evidence that the newest invention is really only the most expensive, rather than the most efficacious.

Sometimes though, the latest advance in medical technology simply blows your mind and makes you want to stand up and applaud. That is surely the case with Charla Nash, the newest recipient of a full face transplant. Mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009, Ms. Nash's face was disfigured beyond all recognition.

As you can see below, the doctors at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston accomplished something miraculous, crafting what by all appearances is an impressively normal fisage for Ms. Nash.

To get a full sense of this amazing transformation, this picture shows Ms. Nash before and after the attack. Warning: it's not for the squeamish. Ms. Nash lost her hands, lips, nose, and eyes in the attack.

In the interest of balance, let us say, "Hooray!" for the steady advance of medical technology. Face transplants, once seen as impossible, have now been accomplished succesfully three times in the U.S. People for whom there once was no hope of a recovery can now look forward to a day in which such radical procedures are routine.

Now, if we can only get people to reserve the title "medical miracle" for the things that truly deserve it.