Transplant patient stunned by change

ANTALYA - Doğan News Agency

These photos show the transformation Acar has gobne through before (L) and after (R) the operation. Acar was operated on Jan 21 and given a new face. DHA photo

Turkey’s first full face transplant patient Uğur Acar yesterday said the change he experienced after the surgery was stunning, some 95 days after the operation he underwent at Akdeniz University in the Mediterranean province of Antalya.

“My physiotherapists were saying during the first days of my treatment that it would take time for my expressions and facial features to settle. The progress was actually faster than they had expected, and it became apparent that my facial features were also forming besides my expressions,” said Uğur Acar, 19.

Acar said he was doing the exercises assigned by his physiotherapists, adding that his former appearance used to scare children away and frighten those who saw him for the first time.

“Now people want to approach and have a chat with me. I attract a lot of attention with my new face. It pleases me, too, to hear from everyone that I am handsome. Those who say I am handsome immediately turn to the subject of marriage. I hope that also happens in due course, but what I want is a marriage of mutual, not one sided, love. I want to make a marriage of love,” he said.

A team of doctors led by Ömer Özkan transplanted donor Ahmet Kaya’s face to Acar on Jan. 21. 39 year old Kaya had passed away only a day before the surgery.

Acar’s face had suffered severe burns in a house fire when he was a baby.