Dallas Wiens, the beneficiary of the world’s first full face transplant, remains overwhelmed with the result of his surgical treatment after an electrical accident horribly disfigured his face.

Wiens, a young father at 26, said words fail to express his deepest gratitude to the anonymous donor and his family.

At a press conference with doctors who performed the surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in the northeastern city of Boston, Wiens said, "I can never express what has been done, what I have been given."

Wiens, a resident in Texas, burned his face off in November 2008 after the left side of his head touched an electrical wire while he was working up high in a cherry picker.

The high voltage electrical wire damaged his nose and lips and blinded him. Wiens lost his left eye in the accident with no light perception in his right eye.

The hospital said Wiens was not likely to look like the donor. "The underlying facial bones and muscle of the recipient will change the shape of the facial tissue graft from the donor and will largely determine its shape and final appearance," the hospital said in a statement.

The world's first full face transplant was made public last year by doctors in Spain, a European accomplishment that followed the first partial face transplant in 2005, carried out on a French woman who had been terribly mauled by a dog.

Wiens wore black sunglasses and a dark goatee beard when faced the press and other attendees of the conference. One side of his face appeared swollen. "To me the face feels natural. It feels as if it has become my own," said Wiens

Wiens admits that he still feels numb in some places and needs to continue rehabilitation work to rebuild certain nerve functions.
Plastic surgeon Bohdan Pomahac led the team of physicians, nurses and anesthesiologists who worked for more than 15 hours to replace Wiens's nose, lips, facial skin, nerves and muscles.

"He was quite literally a man without a face," said Pomahac.

"In plastic surgery this represents, at least in my mind, a new frontier of reconstructive surgery, of what is possible now. This really opens up an immense amount of doors, and represents a lot of hope where maybe before there was none," said one of his doctors, Jeffrey Janis of Parkland Hospital.

Chief of plastic surgery at Brigham and Women's hospital, Elof Eriksson, said Wiens is now done with the first three steps -- the initial workup, the surgery and the post-operation healing.

"Dallas has successfully gone through the first three stages, but still has to regain nerve and muscle function," said Eriksson.

Although Wiens presently speaks difficulty, he has already begun to regain his sense of smell."The first thing I was able to smell was hospital lasagna. You wouldn't imagine it, but it smelled delicious…The ability to breathe through my nose normally, that in itself was a major gift,” he said.

Now he is considering university education and is anticipating a more normal life ahead with his young daughter, who calls him “handsome” his new look.