Turkey’s fifth face transplant patient sees face for first time since surgery

ANTALYA – Doğan News Agency

Recep Sert wrote down his feelings as he is still not allowed to speak. DHA Photo

Photos and footage showing Turkey’s fifth face transplanted patient, Recep Sert, have revealed his new face for the first time.

Sert, who received the face of 42-year-old Polish tourist Andrzej Kucza on July 18, wrote down his feelings as he is still not allowed to speak.

“There is only excitement. It has been very good. I was not expecting this much,” Sert wrote on seeing his new face for the first time after shaving on Aug. 28.

The face of Kucza, who had died on a vacation in Turkey’s southwestern province of Muğla during his vacation and whose organs were donated by his family, was transplanted to Sert by Prof. Dr. Ömer Özkan and his team at Akdeniz University, marking the university’s third and Turkey’s fifth face transplant case.

Sert’s father, Cafer Sert, said his son was now more handsome than he had imagined. “I saw his face for the first time since the bandages have been removed. I had not expected his face would be so good. It comes as a surprise to me,” he said.

He added that he would have his son wed as soon as they returned to their hometown of İnegöl, a district of northwestern Bursa.

“Once my son is healthy again I am going to have him wed. There was a girl he loved who has never left him throughout this process. I will do as my son wishes,” Cafer Sert said.