“It feels natural,” said the 25-year-old Fort Worth, Texas, man, who received a new nose, lips, Skin, muscle and nerves from an anonymous donor.
Dallas Wiens, a construction worker, suffered severe burns to his head when the boom lift he was operating drifted into a nearby power line. The nearly fatal accident left him in a coma for three months.
After 22 surgeries, Wiens was left with a Face void of features, except for a lipless mouth and a goatee. Even his eye sockets were smoothed over with skin taken from other parts of his body.
The operation was paid for by the U.S. military, which hopes to use findings from the procedure to help soldiers with severe facial wounds.
"This new face, it's not who I am. The old face wasn't, either. Who you are is inside -- it's internalized. It's who you show the world."
