ArticlePlastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open2026
Navigating Privacy in Facial Transplantation: Ethical Considerations and Institutional Strategies.
Article in Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
Background: During the last 20 years, the novel and highly visible nature of facial transplantation (FT) has posed a dual and potentially conflicting obligation for FT programs: to disseminate findings for scientific advancement while respecting recipients' preferences for privacy, given the significant public and media attention. The individually identifying nature of FT is not present in other forms of vascularized composite allotransplantation, making it unique. Despite extensive ethical discourse on FT, implications for privacy are largely absent from ethical analyses. Methods: This conceptual analysis assesses the complex ethical implications associated with privacy in FT and offers guidance to FT programs for navigating concerns related to donors, recipients, and their families. A literature review was performed and supplemented by our institutional experience. Results: Ethical approaches to privacy require balancing the conflicting ethical principles at the center of this dual obligation. Patient-centered strategies should include comprehensive psychological screening to understand patients' goals for care, informed consent that clearly addresses the dissemination of information and media involvement, and control of media coverage until the recipient is ready and willing. Public relations support for recipients has been helpful in our institution's experience. Additional community-based strategies include educational outreach interventions to satisfy public curiosity. Conclusions: Findings from published reports alongside our institution's experience suggest that a nuanced, multifaceted approach is essential to navigate the ethical complexities of privacy in FT. Aligning key stakeholders to support FT recipients' well-being while maintaining scientific integrity reflects the ethical tension between duties to patients and obligations to advance transplant science.
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Registered trials
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