Five US men and seven women will secretly visit a medical clinic in Ohio in coming weeks to vie for(1) the chance to have a radical(2) operation that has never been tried anywhere in the world.

They will smile, raise their eyebrows, close their eyes and open their mouths.

The Cleveland Clinic's Maria Siemionow will study their cheekbones(3), lips and noses. She will ask what they hope to gain, and what they most fear. Then she will ask: "Are you afraid you will look like another person?"

Because whoever she chooses will endure the ultimate(4) identity crisis. Dr Siemionow wants to attempt a face transplant(5).

She is exploring the medical frontier(6) in the hope of giving people disfigured(7) by burns, accidents or other tragedies a chance at a new life. Today's treatments still leave many with scar-tissue(8) masks that do not look or move like natural skin.

These people have already lost the sense of identity that is linked to the face. The transplant is "taking a skin envelope" and slipping their identity inside, Dr Siemionow says.

Her supporters note her experience, planning, the team of experts assembled(9) to help her, and the practice she has done on animals and human cadavers(10) to perfect the technique.

But her critics say the operation is too risky for something that is not a matter of life or death, as organ(11) transplants are.

They paint a surreal(12) image of a worst-case scenario(13): a transplanted face being rejected and sloughing away(14), leaving the patient worse off(15) than before.

Such qualms(16) recently scuttled(17) face transplant plans in France and Britain.

Ultimately, it comes to this: a hospital, doctor and patient willing to try it.

美国五位男性和七位女性将在未来几周内秘密访问俄亥俄州的一家诊所，希望能够获得一次彻底手术的机会。这项手术在全世界还是第一次。

他们要按照规定微笑，挑眉毛，闭眼睛和张嘴巴。

克利夫兰诊所的玛丽亚·塞米奥诺将会研究他们的颧骨、嘴唇和鼻子。她会问他们希望得到什么，最害怕什么。然后她会问：“如果你们看起来像另外一个人，会不会害怕？”

因为无论玛丽亚选择了谁，都要遭受最终的身份确认危机。塞米奥诺博士要尝试一次面部移植手术。

她对这样的边缘医疗技术进行探索是希望能够给被烧伤、事故和其他悲剧毁容的人们一次重获新生的机会。现今的治疗技术仍然会留下很多伤疤，当面部肌肉运动或静止的时候看起来非常不自然。

这些人已经不能通过面部来辨别身份了。塞米奥诺博士说此项移植手术就是要“揭下皮肤上的外壳”让身份从“里面”露出来。

手术的支持者们记录下塞米奥诺的经验、计划；专家们集合起来帮助她；动物和尸体试验能够帮助她完美此项技术。

但是也有反对者认为这项手术风险太大，毕竟与器官移植不同，面部丑陋并不威胁生存。
 

他们逼真地描画了手术最坏结果的肖像：一旦被移植人的体质抗拒新脸，使得新脸脱落，他的脸将比手术前更加丑陋。

最近这样的疑虑使移植手术无法在法国和英国进行。

但是最终的讨论结论是：只要医院、医师和病人都愿意尝试的话，手术就可以进行。