Face transplant helps car accident victim

Doctors have performed another miraculous face transplant, giving a car accident victim a new look at life.

The recipient is a man who couldn't smell and had trouble breathing and speaking.

Repeated attempts at corrective surgery failed, so doctors decided the only option was a face transplant.

The operation at the Cleveland Clinic six weeks ago took more than 24 hours, and 9 surgeons.

The patient was missing the middle of his face, forehead, and eye sockets. So, the transplant team replaced about 90-percent of his face, including most of his scalp, forehead, eyelids, nose, upper jaw, upper teeth, facial nerves and muscles.

The lead surgeon says it preserved what little vision the man had left.

This was the seventh face transplant in the United States.

It will take about six months for the nerves to grow so the patient can regain movement. But he's already sent word he is grateful to the donor's family for what he calls "an amazing gift."