World's first full-face transplant successful after 22 hour surgery

In a 22-hour complex surgery, a team of 30 surgeons, anesthetists, nurses and transplant specialists stitched the face of a dead man onto a young farmer who was severely injured in a gunshot accident.

As a result of the trauma, the patient’s face was totally destroyed. He suffered extensive deformity and was deprived of vital functions.

Despite previous surgical attempts to restore his face, he had difficulties speaking, breathing and swallowing for the last five years.

Patient receives full face transplant
The technique involved removing what was left of the man's face and giving him a replacement "in one piece." By the means of plastic reconstructive surgery and microsurgery of blood vessels, the doctors transplanted the entire face apart from the tongue and eyeballs onto the man.

The unnamed farmer now boasts of a brand new face from his hairline down. The only one scar he has runs across his neck, which looks like a wrinkle.

The hospital stated, "He had been operated on nine times without satisfactory success, therefore he was considered for full face transplant.

"The operation was carried out by a multidisciplinary team led by Dr Joan Pere Barret, performing the transplant of the entire facial skin and muscles, nose, lips, maxilla, palate, all teeth, cheekbones, and the mandible by means of plastic surgery and micro-neurovascular reconstructive surgery techniques."

Experts took care to ensure that the patient's new face resembled the one he had before the accident and did not have any likeness to that of the anonymous donor.

According to Barret, his new face will be reminiscent of both.

Patient recovering well
The patient has been recovering well though the process has been slow. He can breathe, see, and swallow saliva which is seen as positive sign.

Doctors believe with the help of proper therapy, he will soon be able to smile, eat, and speak. However, there is no time frame for when those advances can be expected.

Dr Barret stated, “He has the face of a complete new human being.
“Relatives say that he looks in some areas like he did before the accident, but he doesn’t look like the donor at all, he’s changed completely.

“He asked to see his face on day seven after the surgery and he was very pleased and satisfied. From our point of view, he looks fantastic. He is the best facial transplant ever.”

Doctors took care to ensure that the patient's new face resembled the one he had before the accident and not that of the anonymous donor. His new face will be reminiscent of both.

Some concerns following the surgery
The major concern of the doctors is that the man’s body will reject the transplant.

The patient will have to take powerful immunosuppressant drugs for the rest of his life which can trigger other illnesses like diabetes. He will also be at an elevated risk of cancer.

Moreover, since the man had undergone the trauma of a major accident and numerous operations he may find it difficult to cope with the psychological stress of losing his identity.

Other face transplants worldwide
Though the Barcelona surgeons claim to have performed the first transplant that involved an entirely new face, there have been 10 partial or near-total face transplants carried out in France, America, China, and Spain in the past.

The first successful face transplant was performed in France in 2005 on Isabelle Dinoire, a 38-year-old woman, after her pet dog chewed off her nose, chin and lips while she slept.