Surgeon reveals most extensive face transplant

Richard Norris, 37, was shot in the face in 1997 and lost his nose, lips and most of the movement in his mouth.

Since then he has undergone multiple life-saving and reconstructive surgeries but he did not feel he could return to society.

He wore a prosthetic nose and a mask even when entering hospital for the transplant .

But last week, during a 36-hour operation, University of Maryland doctors gave him a new face from an anonymous donor whose organs saved five other patients' lives on the same day.

Six days after the surgery, he can already move his tongue and open and close his eyes and is recovering much faster than doctors expected.

Before the surgery, Norris, who is unmarried and lives with his parents in Virginia, had been unable to find a job because of his facial deformity.

Norris' face transplant seems to be the most aesthetically successful to date, according to photographs and video released by the university.

To ensure Norris would retain maximum function of his facial expressions and movements, doctors gave him a new tongue for proper speech, eating, and chewing, normally aligned teeth, and connected his nerves to allow for smiling.

The transplant was "an amazing feat," according to the dean of the

About 100 doctors, scientists and other university medical staff, ranging from plastic surgeons to craniofacial specialists, teamed up for the operation.

The surgery involved 10 years of research funded by the Department of Defence's Office of Naval Research and will serve as a model for helping war veterans injured by improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan, the university said.