In 2019, we performed what we believe to be the first full-face transplantation in a Black patient. The patient was a 67-year-old man who had burns over 50% of his total body- surface area and loss of critical facial structures because of a motor vehicle accident (Fig. 1). Here, we report on the challenges of face transplantation in a Black patient.
Figure 1. The Patient before and after Face Transplantation.
Panel A shows the patient before and Panel B shows the patient 3 months after face transplantation. The donor was a 61-year-old Black man who met the criteria for brain death and had physical characteristics and skin tone that were similar to those of the recipient (cytomegalovirus IgG status, negative in the donor and positive in the recipient; Epstein–Barr virus status, positive in both the donor and recipient; four HLA mismatches at A1B2DR1; and negative pretransplantation T-cell and B-cell cross-matching).
