Barely living: An MRI image showing the ravaged face of a man who accidentally blew his jaw, mouth and nose away with a shotgun. He has since become the first person in the world to undergo a full facial transplant
The nose is gone, the jaw has been blown away, and where the mouth should be there is only a gaping hole and scar tissue.
This is a Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) of the young man who made medical history last month when he became the first person in the world to undergo a full facial transplant - taken before his life-changing surgery.
Before the operation, described as the ‘holy grail of plastic surgery’, the man, a farmer in his 30s, was unable to breathe, swallow or talk properly.
He accidentally blew most of his face off, including his nose and jaw, with a gun five years ago.
Nine earlier surgical attempts to rebuild his face had failed.
A handful of partial transplants have been carried out since Isabelle Dinoire had her face repaired by French surgeons in 2005.
But until now, no one has had the skill or courage to replace an entire face.
The 24-hour operation involved 30 surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and other medical experts at the Vall d’Hebron hospital in Barcelona.
The man, who has not been named, received new facial muscles, skin, nose, lips, jaw, teeth, palate and cheekbones.
The full-face transplant operation took place on March 20 but details have only just been made public...
