Robert Chelsea

<p>Today we welcome <a href="https://www.robertchelsea.org">Robert Chelsea </a></p> <div class="newsroom-detail__upper"> <div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox" data-url= "https://www.brighamandwomens.org/about-bwh/newsroom/press-releases-detail?id=3464" data-title="BWH Press Release - Brigham and Women's Hospital"> <div id="atstbx" class= "at-resp-share-element at-style-responsive addthis-smartlayers addthis-animated at4-show" role="region" aria-labelledby= "at-15df8751-854f-4f2d-bff9-b1d95a69a072"><span id= "at-15df8751-854f-4f2d-bff9-b1d95a69a072" class= "at4-visually-hidden"></span> <div class="at-share-btn-elements"><strong><span style= "font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;"> Brigham Surgeons Perform First Full Face Transplant for Black Patient</span></strong></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="newsroom-detail__wrap"> <div class="rich-text component"> <p>Boston, MA — Robert Chelsea, 68, became the first black patient, and the oldest, to receive a full face transplant in a procedure at Brigham and Women’s Hospital this July. Chelsea, a Los Angeles area resident, suffered burns over 60 percent of his body and face after his car was struck by a drunk driver in 2013. The 16-hour surgery, involving a team of over 45 surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists, residents and research fellows and led by Bohdan Pomahac, MD, was the ninth face transplant procedure at the Brigham and the 15th nationwide.</p> <p>“Despite being the oldest face transplant patient at 68, Robert is progressing and recovering remarkably fast,” said Pomahac, the Roberta and Stephen R. Weiner Distinguished Chair in Surgery and director of Plastic Surgery Transplantation at Brigham Health. “We are looking forward to seeing a significant improvement in Robert’s quality of life.”</p> <p>The wait for a donor was longer than that of previous Brigham face transplant recipients due to the effort to find a match that would work for Chelsea’s skin tone.