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FIRST MAN IN U.S TO GET A FULL FACE TRANSPLANT REVEALS HIMSELF TO THE WORLD

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Dallas Wiens can feel sensation in his face and can even smell again daughter, Scarlette again.He was the first man in the U.S. to receive a full face transplant. But for Dallas Wiens it was feeling his daughter’s kisses again that was the major break through. The 26-year-old from Fort Worth, Texas was able to show three-year-old Scarlette his new face last week, and yesterday he unveiled his new features to the rest of the world for the first time.
Speaking at a press conference ,Dallas Wiens said being able to hold little Scarlette had been the best gift. And on seeing his new face the tot had gasped: ‘Daddy you’re so handsome.’
Now Dallas is planning to head home to Texas to ‘be the best father that I can be’ and to continue his education.
He first unveiled his new features on of Good Morning America. Wearing sunglasses and sporting his usual goatee beard .
He said: ‘It’s an amazing experience to be able just to feel her kiss again after two and a half years of having no feeling whatsoever in my face.
Dallas has been recuperating at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts for the past six weeks after the operation that saw a team of more than 30 doctors, nurses and anaesthesiologists work for 15 hours to replace his face.
He suffered life threatening burns after losing control of a lift platform he had been on to repair a church window two-and-a-half years ago. After toppling over his head had slammed into a live power cable that seared off his face.
Sadly doctors have not been able to restore Dallas’ sight but amazingly he can feel sensations and his sense of smell has slowly returned.
And the first thing he smelled? The Lasagne wafting from the hospital’s kitchen. ‘It smelled really, really good,’ Dallas said.
He added: ‘To me the face feels natural as if it has become my own. I can never express what I have been given in this procedure and I am indebted for the rest of my life.’
Despite his horrific injuries Dallas , who has no memory of the accident, said if he could go back and change events on that awful day in 2008, he wouldn’t.
‘Too many good things have happened from it,’ he said. ‘My family is closer now. I am a way better person now. I’m even a better father.’
‘This new face, it’s not who I am. The old face wasn’t either,’ he added. ‘Who you are is inside – it’s internalized. It’s who you show the world.’
Dallas is now ready to go home and resume his life.
‘You have to choose to get bitter or get better,’ he said. ‘And I chose to get better. I’m only 26 years old so there’s a lot of life left to live.’
He admitted that he had no words to express his gratitude for the donor of his face and his family. ‘What they did has given me a new life. It’s given my daughter a new life.’
The surgery was paid for by the Department of Defense, which gave the hospital a $3.4million research grant for five transplants. Dallas is the third person in the U.S. to receive a face transplant – after James Maki, at the same hospital in 2009 and Connie Culp at the Cleveland Clinic in 2008. James Maki and Connie Culp were partial face transplant.

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