Last April, a 31-year-old Spaniard identified only as Oscar, became the first person on the planet to undergo a full face (including jaw, nose, cheekbones, muscles, teeth and eyelids) transplant after shooting himself in the face. This morning, he stepped in front of the cameras to thank his doctors and the family of the donor.
"I'm very happy to be here and I wanted to express my gratitude to the hospital and medical team and to all donors in Spain, especially the family of the man whose face I received," he said.
There's still a long road head, in terms of recovery. He's able to drink liquids and eat soft foods, and has been able to speak for the past two months. Oscar's regained feeling in most of his face and is partly recovering movement of his muscles. He's unable to close his eyes completely. One good sign was that a week after the operation, he had to be shaved because of beard growth. But he also suffered acute rejection twice — once four weeks after the surgery and again between the second and third months. Both times, the new face was saved with medication, the hospital said.
His sister told reporters, her brother looks forward to leading a normal life. He is eager to enjoy "little things, like walking down the street without anyone looking at him, or sitting down for a meal with his family. Doing things that all of us do on a normal day," she said.
Oscar will need to take medications for the rest of his life to ward off infection.
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