A patient dubbed 'the man with three faces' after becoming the first person to receive two face transplants has said he is getting used to his new identity.
Jerome Hamon underwent the world's first full face transplant, including tear ducts and eyelids, in a procedure at a hospital outside Paris in July 2010.
But the same year - in order to treat nothing more than a common cold - he was given an antibiotic incompatible with his immunosuppressive treatment.
In 2016, he began to display signs of transplant rejection, and his new face deteriorated. By November last year, the 43-year-old's face, suffering from necrosis, had to be removed.
Hamon, who suffers from a genetic mutation which causes severely disfiguring tumours, remained in hospital without a face for two months before a compatible donor was found and a successful second transplant carried out.
Still recovering in hospital three months after his latest operation, he says he has quickly accepted his new identity.
His new face remains smooth and motionless, with his skull, skin and features yet to be fully aligned, a gradual process reliant on immunosuppressant drugs which, it is hoped, will prevent his body rejecting the transplanted material.
'I feel very well in myself,' he told reporters last week as he continues his recovery from the surgery which was carried out on January 15 and 16.
'I can't wait to get rid of all this,' he adds, speaking with difficulty of all the major treatment he has undergone to become the first man to have received two face transplants.
The operation answers a key question for the medical world; 'Can we redo a facial transplant? Yes, we can re-transplant and this is what you get!'
To avoid any rejection, the patient underwent three months of special blood treatment prior to the transplant, nephrologist Eric Thervet explained.
Despite all the anxiety and suffering, Hamon is a happy man again.
'The first transplant I accepted immediately. I thought 'this is my new face' and this time it's the same,' he explained.
'If I hadn't accepted this new face it would have been terrible. It's a question of identity... But here we are, it's good, it's me.'
There have now been around 40 face transplants throughout the world since the first was performed on Frenchwoman Isabelle Dinoire in northern France in 2005.
Jerome Hamon underwent the world's first full face transplant, including tear ducts and eyelids, in a procedure at a hospital outside Paris in July 2010.
But the same year - in order to treat nothing more than a common cold - he was given an antibiotic incompatible with his immunosuppressive treatment.
In 2016, he began to display signs of transplant rejection, and his new face deteriorated. By November last year, the 43-year-old's face, suffering from necrosis, had to be removed.
Hamon, who suffers from a genetic mutation which causes severely disfiguring tumours, remained in hospital without a face for two months before a compatible donor was found and a successful second transplant carried out.
Still recovering in hospital three months after his latest operation, he says he has quickly accepted his new identity.
His new face remains smooth and motionless, with his skull, skin and features yet to be fully aligned, a gradual process reliant on immunosuppressant drugs which, it is hoped, will prevent his body rejecting the transplanted material.
'I feel very well in myself,' he told reporters last week as he continues his recovery from the surgery which was carried out on January 15 and 16.
'I can't wait to get rid of all this,' he adds, speaking with difficulty of all the major treatment he has undergone to become the first man to have received two face transplants.
The operation answers a key question for the medical world; 'Can we redo a facial transplant? Yes, we can re-transplant and this is what you get!'
To avoid any rejection, the patient underwent three months of special blood treatment prior to the transplant, nephrologist Eric Thervet explained.
Despite all the anxiety and suffering, Hamon is a happy man again.
'The first transplant I accepted immediately. I thought 'this is my new face' and this time it's the same,' he explained.
'If I hadn't accepted this new face it would have been terrible. It's a question of identity... But here we are, it's good, it's me.'
There have now been around 40 face transplants throughout the world since the first was performed on Frenchwoman Isabelle Dinoire in northern France in 2005.
Music: "Inspired" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Source: Daily Mail, AP, Mirror, The Sun
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