As more medical teams rush to join what some have dubbed “the face race,” a delicate, and some say disturbing, problem is emerging: How to expand the pool of potential face donors.
“Are you an organ donor? Do you know that you can also register to donate your own face,” Rod J. Rohrich, editor-in-chief of the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, says in a video highlighting a paper published in his journal this month on how to influence the public’s position on “facial allografts.”
In the study, 300 people were approached in a New York City public park. The first 100 were asked, “Would you be willing to donate your face after you die to help someone who has severe facial disfigurement?” About half, 52 per cent, said yes.
