ONE of the first people in the world to get a face transplant has explained how the complicated procedure works.
Former soldier Mitch Hunter simply told TikTok fans he is “literally wearing someone else’s face”, after a follower asked how doctors did it.
He said: “I was in a really bad car accident and got hit by a powerline by exiting and getting the other passengers off the powerline.
“I had 10,000 volts going through my left leg, through my entire body, out my right hand, exiting my face which causes full thickness burns which is past third degrees.
“But to answer your question, yeah it’s someone else’s face.”
He was the third person in history to undergo the revolutionary procedure in America after the car accident.
The ex-private was just 21 years old when a car he was in ploughed into a 10,000 volt electrical utility poll.
It sent the near lethal charge though his foot and out of his face as he shoved a female fellow passenger out of harm’s way.
Within just five minutes the fresh faced young soldier was unrecognisable, after the volts exited out of his face.
The brave serviceman underwent more than 20 corrective operations to deal with the damage, but when his girlfriend became pregnant he didn’t want his kids to be scared of his face and decided to go for a transplant.
Years on from the procedure, the dad of three speaks out about his astonishing story regularly, revealing his big bushy beard was also a gift from his donor.
He explained: “It’s the donor’s beard, hair follicles come with skin.”
The transplant – which took 14 hours and 30 doctors – transformed his life, he said previously: “It’s changed it considerably, it’s a lot easier to go out in public and do normal things that normal people would do.
“Before the transplant I would get stared at, comments made, and it just wasn’t fun, it’s so much easier to live a normal life.
“A lot of my genetics show through, your bone structure is what makes you look like you and mine was pretty undamaged apart from the bridge of my nose.
“I do see a lot of myself when I look in the mirror. Maybe not like I would look at the age of 35 if the accident had never happened, but I do look like me.”
As of 2021 more than 45 people have received full or partial face transplants around the world.
It is a complicated procedure, which involves using surgical microscopes to connect arteries, nerves and veins.
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