Mitch Hunter, a 30 year old man from Indiana had a full face transplant after a freak accident left his face horribly disfigured dating back to 2001.

Hunter suffered severe electric shock from a power line after a motor vehicle accident left him with a different face than he normally saw in the mirror.

Ten years later, Mitch is able to smile again as he becomes only the third person with such operation done in the U.S. at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. During the operation, surgeons had to transplant Hunter’s nose, lips and the nerves that allowed for feeding and facial expression; however after a 14 week surgery that was completed last week, doctors say he is doing extremely well.

Although the surgery was a success, Doctors still have some concerns as they have to closely monitor Hunter for any cases of infectious and rejection of the donor tissue.

To counter this infectious reactions, Hunter is taking large amounts of drugs which can be dangerous to his well being and recovery because these drugs have to be taking for the remainder of his life which can suppress the immune system and increase the risk of infection and cancer as well.

We all wish Hunter a very speedy and successful recovery as his success will only mean than more of these surgeries will be performed with more lives being saved.

By Alex Asiedu