Would you get an emergency face transplant if it meant… ?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Apparently it is now possible, or will soon be possible, to perform face transplants in much the same way that organ transplants are done. The technology is intended to help those with severe burns or facial disfigurements.

So here’s an interesting hypothetical scenario to consider. Say you’re involved in a fire or other accident where your face is completely burned or mutilated. You will survive, but you will be severely disfigured. The doctors tell you that they can give you a face transplant, but the only matching donor they have been able to find is (oddly enough) of a different race from you, with completely different features and skin colour. Would you accept the transplant, or would you rather wait (possibly forever) with a disfigured face in hopes that a donor who looks more like you will turn up? Would you have any trouble accepting such a radical physical transformation? How about your family and loved ones? If you want the new face but your spouse or sigfinicant other doesn’t like the idea, would you go through with it anyway? Assuming you are of the racial majority, would the fact that the face is from a minority affect your decision at all? For example, if you are a white American, would you hesitate accepting a face from a black donor?

2

That would mean a black face and pale neck, ears, rest of body. It would be weird, but I’d do it.

But whatever face I’m getting had better be a damned good-looking one.

3

Depends if the new face would look weirder than no face. If I had a good chance of getting a better-matched face I’d probably wait. I think it depends how well the new face looks too. If I’d have limited movement resulting in really weird facial expressions and a tendency to drool I’m not sure that would be better than my old, disfigured face, since at least that would match my skin colour.

4

Features wouldn’t really be an issue, as the “look” of your face is based more on the muscles and bones under the skin, not the skin itself. So my face would look “like me” even if it had different skin. I’m pale enough that more than likely an available donor would be more dark-skinned than me.

And, to be honest, the thing that would make me MOST willing is reading about the guy who lost all the skin on his lower face, and who now has horrible problems because his beard keeps growing, but the scar tissue on top won’t let the hairs through, so they fester. Getting a skin transplant on his face would really help that.

But yeah, to answer the question, yeah I’d take a transplant, and I wouldn’t care who it was from as long as they were (had been) willing. OK so me with a dark face would look funny, but I’ve known people who had that pigmentation thing where they had splotches of dark and light skin, and no one ran screaming away from them.

Corrvin

5

Several years back, I saw some typically stupid 60 Minutes segment about how they might be able to transplant animal organs into humans who need transplants. I think it was lungs. Anyway… They tried to make a ‘controversy’ out of it, saying that people would have a problem with having animal parts. So they interviewed all these people waiting for lung transplants, and when asked if they would accept animal lungs, they all basically said “shit, yeah!!” So when the so-called correspondent said well, don’t you dislike the idea of animal parts instead of human parts, they said “I’d rather have human parts, of course, but anything that works is better than what I’ve got.”

I think most people with hugely disfigured faces would feel the same way about accepting a face of a different race. It’s easy enough for me to say that I’d wait around for a pale white freckly face as I’m sitting here with my original face working just fine, but if I had some horrible injury–I’d take whatever face I could get. Looking weird would be better than having no face at all.

6

But with organ transplants it’s a matter of life and death. Nobody’s going to DIE from being disfigured, and walking around with a mismatched face could easily look just as disconcerting as having one that’s horribly scarred or what have you. Either way you get people pointing and staring.

7

I would accept it, and do so gratefully.

8

A lot would depend on what “severely disfigured” means. If my injuries were so severe that they affected my sight, my ability to eat or speak normally, or something of the sort, then, yes, I’d accept a face transplant from anybody, irrespective of skin colour etc.

On the other hand, if it was purely cosmetic - if my only “disability” as a result of the accident was ugliness - I wouldn’t want a transplant in the first place.

One thing I would never want is a hand transplant. I know it’s irrational, but the idea of having someone else’s hand attached to me fills me with complete revulsion. I mean, you don’t know where it’s been. Or, rather, you do…

9

I think you’re severely underestimating the importance of a face in social interactions.

We’re not talking “Your career as a supermodel is over.” We’re talking “children run away shrieking and their parents look at you like it’s your fault.” When everyone either stares or averts their eyes, when you find yourself utterly unable to have in-person human interactions because people find you so repulsive, and in a less kind age you’d be asked to wear a mask when you went out on the street…

Yeah. I’d get the transplant. Not only would I not wait for a color match, I’d even get one as the technology stands now, when there’s a 50% chance of failure and almost certain death.

10

I’d get the transplant. As mentioned, it would still be my bone structure and my muscles giving most of the shape to the new face. I’d prefer to get something close to my own color, but if nothing was available, I’d take what I could get.

I could handle looking a bit odd by having a different colored face. But I don’t think that would be as noticable from a distance and as likely to get stares, frighten children, or get that dreaded look of pity from total strangers.

11

Considering that’s how people treat me anyway, my answer still stands. :slight_smile:

12

I think having a different color face from the rest of your body would lead to MORE stares than disfigurement. We’ve all seen burned people; even if they unsettle us it’s nothing new. Even considering vitiligo, there’s no disorder that causes people to have a really dark face and light everything else (or vice versa). So I wouldn’t get the transplant, unless the skin is close enough to wear makeup on my hands/neck or face. It’s not due to the race aspect; if there were a way to transplant my BRAIN from my body to one of a different color I’d do it. But if I have to choose between being a known freak or an unknown one, I’ll go with the former.

I would take a disparate-looking hand transplant, since that wouldn’t just be cosmetic and I could easily cover it up with a glove. It wouldn’t get a lot of stares, at least not as much as a face.

13

Not to make light of a serious decision but I keep thinking of actor Ted Danson’s appearance in black-face at an award ceremony for Whoppie Goldberg. If you don’t remember that hub-bub it is here.
What kind of reactions would you expect on a daily basis.

14

I would take a slightly-less-than-perfect match, but I wouldn’t take a blatant mismatch in color.

I would do this transplant in a heartbeat. I couldn’t bear the thought of having a severely disfigured face; nor do I think anyone else should have to. The ethics thing is ridiculous. They need to perfect this and help people live more normal lives. By doing the operation, you begin to perfect it.

15

Would you accept the transplant, or would you rather wait (possibly forever) with a disfigured face in hopes that a donor who looks more like you will turn up?

I would accept the transplant.

Would you have any trouble accepting such a radical physical transformation?

I’m assuming you mean disfigurement by fire or injury and not the transplant here. Sure, I think most people would at first. But you learn to count your blessings.

How about your family and loved ones?

Again, I’m sure it would require getting used to, but I’m confident my family would support me in any way I need them to.

If you want the new face but your spouse or sigfinicant other doesn’t like the idea, would you go through with it anyway?

Yes, without question or hesitation.

** Assuming you are of the racial majority, would the fact that the face is from a minority affect your decision at all? For example, if you are a white American, would you hesitate accepting a face from a black donor? **

I would not care what skin color the face was. At all.

My first boyfriend (father of my children) was severely disfigured in a fire while we were dating.
35% of his body; mostly his face, hands and arms.

What was left of his ears were cut off to reconstruct his eyelids, lips and nose.

Skin was taken from every possible unburned part of his body and grafted to his face to reconstruct it. He wore a compression mask for over a year after his recovery. Even with those measures taken, I watched this man deteriorate before my eyes as he was so unhappy with his appearance. He grew his hair long and wore dark glasses. He rarely went out in public. He became addicted to his pain pills, which led to heroin. He’s been clean now for about 6 months (after 20 years of addiction and depression) and I couldn’t be happier for him. He has more confidence in himself than he ever did and I know he’s happy with himself today. But this was a long time coming, and I honestly don’t know if it will last. I sure hope it does.

I can tell you with confidence, if I were to ask him these questions, he’d laugh his skin-graft scarred ass off and probably spit in my scar-free face.

16

Man…that is just awful. But clarify for me if you would…would he spit in your face because he’s learned to accept himself as he is or is he saying “of COURSE I’d get the transplant”? Forgive me…It’s early and I can’t tell which way you intend this to be taken.

17

This made me think about an interesting ‘wrinkle’ - what if you were waiting for a transplant and a member of your own family died? Would you agree to look like someone you knew for the rest of your life, since that tissue would have the least chance of rejection and the greatest chance for you to look ‘normal’?

As for the OP, I’d take looking odd/mismatched over not being able to eat or drink, smile or blink properly, you betcha. There are some makeups made to cover port wine and other dark birthmarks, they’d surely be able to even out any skin tone.

I also want to say that I was surprised to learn the French lady will have to take anti-rejection meds for the rest of her life; my mom’s burns had my grandma’s skin grafted on them and she didn’t have to take anything like that, ever. Maybe b/c the transplant involved muscle?

18

Honestly, after I posted, I thought the same thing myself. My answer was assuming we were back in time, when he was going through his surgeries. To even pose a question like “Would you accept a face if it was a different color than your original skin?” would have been ludicrous to say the least. Of course, I realize this question is meant to be hypothetical, I guess since I’ve seen the reality it struck a nerve with me.

If the questions were posed to him 20 years ago, even 10 years ago, it would have been “of course I would.” I can’t even remember how many surgeries he had back then, but if I were to guess, I’d say it was probably close to 30 or 40. If something like this meant fewer surgeries and a better appearance, I know he would have accepted it in a heartbeat.

He might accept it today. But like I said, he has finally found some peace with himself, his situation, and life in general.

Although I speak to him on a weekly basis or so on the phone, I haven’t actually seen him/hung around with him, etc. since he’s been clean. He’s a different person, one I don’t really know anymore, and he might not want something like this now. Then again, he might. I really don’t know.

19

My guess is that because they’re genetically related, there is no fear of rejection. I could be wrong. Is there a doctor in the house?

20

IANAD, but… unless you’re talking identical twins there will be rejection without immuno-suppressive drugs. Skin is a tissue that is especially prone to rejection, or so I’ve read.

Is it possible the skin grafts on the mom in question were only temporary? Donor skin is sometimes used to cover burns, even though it will be eventually rejected, simply because you need to keep your innard covered. I believe the technique is to use the patient’s skin, but when that is available in limited amounts you use donor skin to make up the lack of patient skin in order to cover as much as possible. Then, when the skin graft sites heal, you can harvest more of the patient’s skin to cover areas that are now uncovered due to rejection of the donor skin. Eventually, you re-cover the entire patient.

Doesn’t sound like fun at all.