Doctors in Poland say they have successfully completed a total face transplant only a few weeks after the victim's accident.
Such transplant procedures typically follow many months or even years after an accident because of the extent of preparation needed, but the 27-hour, life-saving operation nonetheless went smoothly, doctors from Oncology Center in Gliwice were reported saying by CBS News.
The 33-year-old man from Poland had his face ripped off while operating heavy machinery.
The patient worked at a stonemason's workshop, where in April a machine used to cut stone severely damaged his face and crushed his upper jaw. The man, identified only by the name Grzegorz, was rushed to a hospital intensive care unit in Wroclaw, but an effort to restores his own face failed, doctors said.
So, Grzegorz was taken to the Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology in Gliwice, which is the only place in Poland licensed to do face transplants and has experience in facial reconstruction for patients disfigured by cancer.
There, led by Dr. Adam Maciejewski, the surgical team restored the man's face, jaws, palate and the bottom of an eye socket.
The procedure was performed May 15 and six days later a photo was taken of the man giving a thumbs-up sign from his hospital bed.
The first face transplant in the United States took place in 2011, when Dallas Wiens from Texas underwent the procedure at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, after suffering a power line accident in 2008 as he was painting a church.
Wiens, whose accident left him with severe burns, facial disfigurement and a blinded left eye, recently married another burn victim, after the two met in a support group.
A Vermont woman burned with lye by her estranged husband also received a new face at Brigham and Women's Hospital, even though doctors initially speculated she only had a 1 to 2 percent chance of finding a workable match for a face donor.
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