Three months after his groundbreaking operation, Jérôme Hamon says he is feeling well.

Which is quite a miracle.

You see, Hamon is the first person in the world to receive not one, but two face transplants, reports BBC:

Jérôme Hamon had his first transplanted face removed last year after signs of rejection following a treatment with an incompatible antibiotic during a cold.

The 43 year old remained in a hospital in Paris without a face for two months while a compatible donor was sought.

He said: “The first [face] I accepted immediately. This time it’s the same.”

His first transplant, in 2010, was a success, but he caught a common cold in 2015 and was given antibiotics. The drug was incompatible with the immunosuppressive treatment he was having to prevent a rejection of the transplanted material.

The first signs of rejection came in 2016 and last November, the face, suffering from necrosis, had to be removed. Hamon suffers from neurofibromatosis type 1, a genetic condition that caused severe disfiguring tumours on his face.

Although his features are yet to be fully aligned, Hamon is positive about his recovery:

“If I hadn’t accepted this new face it would have been terrible. It’s a question of identity… But here we are, it’s good, it’s me,” he told AFP news agency from the hospital, where he is still recovering.

“I’m 43 and the donor was 22 so I’m 22 again,” he told French TV.

Here’s Hamon himself:

Without a face, Hamon lived in a room at Paris’ Georges-Pompidou hospital. He wasn’t able to see, speak or hear until a face donor was found in January:

To avoid further rejection, Mr Hamon – dubbed “the man with three faces” by French media – had special treatment to clean the blood prior to the transplant.

The hours-long operation was led by Prof Laurent Lantieri [above], who is a specialist in hand and face transplants. He also did Hamon’s initial surgery eight years ago:

“Today, we know that a double transplant is feasible, it’s no longer in the field of research,” he told Le Parisien newspaper (in French).

Anaesthetist Bernard Cholley said: “Anyone who loses their face and then has to wait for a hypothetical transplant for an unknown length of time – that’s something that no-one has ever had to go through here.

“I’m amazed by the courage of a patient who has been able to get through such an ordeal.”

What a brave man.

[source:bbc]