Global General
First full face transplant recipient leaves hospital
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-07-26 22:42
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Oscar, the world's first full-face transplant patient, speaks during a news conference at the Vall d'Hebron Hospital in Barcelona July 26, 2010. [Agencies] |
MADRID - The first man to receive a full face transplant was able to leave hospital and go home this Monday.
The patient, who is known as Oscar, received the face transplant in the Hospital Vall D' Hebron in Barcelona in March after having suffered severe facial injuries in an accident.
In the last four months Oscar has had to overcome two rejections of his new face following a process that saw him receive a transplant that included skin, facial muscles, nose, upper jaw and cheekbones.
At the moment Oscar is still unable to eat solid food and has problems speaking as he is still unable to control the central area of his lips.
The surgeon who carried out the operation, Joan Pere Barret, explained that his faces does, however, have feeling and that although he will still need many hours of rehabilitation, he should be able to talk and eat normally in the future.
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"He will do that soon. He has recovered the movement in his eyebrows and he is also able to smile. There are two Oscars: one before and one after the operation," conformed Dr Barret.
Meanwhile Oscar's sister gave an insight into his feelings.
"All he wants to do is to recover a normal life. At the moment he can go into the street without people staring at him, he can enjoy a mean with his family ... my brother can have a life thanks to the great work that has been carrier out by the doctors," she told Spanish television station RTVE.
Oscar's was the third face transplant carried out in Spain, the previous operations took place in Valencia and in Sevilla.