Transplant patient’s first photos revealed

ANTALYA – Hürriyet Daily NEws

Çolak had lost his face in a household accident when he was 3 years old. DHA photo

Turkey’s fourth face transplant patient’s photographs were released for the first time on May 18, three days after the surgery.

Patient Turan Çolak’s state of health was reported as good and stable by his doctors. “He communicates with his doctors, and he has the ability to talk,” Dr. Abdullah Erdoğan, chief doctor of Akdeniz University, said.

Erdoğan also said the administration of the university hospital decided to publish the photographs of the patient with the approval of his family in response to intense public demand.

Dr. Ömer Özkan, who led the operation, also made comments about Çolak’s state of health. Özkan said they will be following the same procedure for Çolak as they applied for Turkey’s first-ever successful face transplant patient Uğur Acar.

However Özkan said Çolak’s operation was different from Acar’s because Çolak also received eye lids from the donor. “Çolak will open his eyes under our control,” he said. Çolak had lost his face in a household accident when he was 3 years old.

Özkan and his team also had completed Turkey’s first successful face transplant surgery in January. Acar, the patient, has recovered rapidly. Two other face transplants were performed after Acar’s, one at Hacettepe University and one at Gazi University. However, the Health Ministry revoked Hacettepe University’s license to perform composite tissue transplant operations last month, on the grounds that the face and quadruple-limb transplant surgeries conducted by the university’s medical staff on Feb. 24 were not in line with regulations.