Jim's Progress

Since the day that a Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) surgical team, lead by Bohdan Pomahac, MD (pictured to the right), successfully performed the second partial face transplant in the United States, we’ve received many inquiries from people who want to know how the recipient, James Maki, is doing. To help keep the public informed about Jim’s progress, we offer periodic updates from his physician, Dr. Pomahac.

September 2011

Two-and-a-half years after his transplant, Jim continues to do very well. He recently joined a bridge group and plays quite frequently. Later this month, he will be getting minor surgery to improve his ability to close his right eye and eliminate corresponding irritation. His facial function continues to improve, with greater control of his upper lip and other facial features. He has continued to use only two immunosupression medications since April of 2010, and has not had any noticeable side effects.

December 2010
Jim successfully underwent the last revisional operation of his face (to tighten up loose skin) and is recovering well. Otherwise, his life has been very busy dealing with The Match, a recently published book about his face transplant operation.

July 2010
Jim is developing better control over individual muscle groups in his face. He’s now able to pucker and invert his upper lip, the last part of the face to regain muscle control. The reason for this is that nerves grow from the periphery to the center, and since the lip is the most central element of the face, it was the last area to experience nerve growth.

Jim will soon be getting lower dentures. This, along with the muscle control development in his lips, will enable him to comfortably eat anything that he wants.

June 2010
Jim has become more socially interactive. He’s definitely more comfortable talking to people and going out to shop, walk and visit the hospital. He doesn’t need to come to the hospital as often as he does, but he looks at it as an opportunity to get out of the house and interact with people.

April 2010  - One-year anniversary
Jim has developed near-normal discriminatory functions in his face, including the sense of hot and cold, and sharp and blunt.

Jim is now on only two medications, and the dosages for both have been significantly reduced. We started with three types of medications – not including a few days of induction therapy following the transplant surgery – at relatively high dosages, and then during the summer we started tapering the dosages of all three medications before totally eliminating one medication. He hasn’t had any noticeable side effects from the immunosuppressants, and a biopsy taken on the one-year anniversary of the operation has confirmed that there has been no rejection.

January 2010 – Smiling again
Jim has developed the ability to smile, and he should soon be able to pucker his lips. Besides giving him the ability to express emotions, this improved lip control will make eating much easier.

October 2009
Jim can now feel his entire face, including the nose and the upper lip. We also observed the first signs of voluntary movement in the transplanted portion of his face.

Much of the muscle function has returned and the skin tone has regained near-normal tone. We removed some of the redundant (sagging) tissue below his chin.

July 2009 – Developing sensation
Jim has started to develop sensation in the transplanted part of his face, primarily in the area right above his cheeks.

May 2009
We closed his breathing tube site on his neck (tracheostomy) and removed the feeding tube in his stomach. Now Jim will be able to independently breathe and eat.

April 2009 – Immediate impact
As soon as Jim woke up from surgery, we noticed a dramatic change in his speech. This is because the transplant immediately provided him with a hard palate to effectively oppose his tongue. Prior to the surgery, Jim’s palate consisted of floppy tissue that made it extremely difficult for people to understand him.