The first American to have a double hand transplant seven years ago now says he wants them removed because they have never worked.

Jeff Kepner underwent the pioneering surgery back in 2010 after losing his hands to sepsis that started from a throat infection.

The case captured world headlines and Mr Kepner appeared on TV alongside his triumphant doctors reporting on the potentially groundbreaking operation.

But Mr Kepner told Time Magazin e his hopes for a normal life have been well and truly crushed.

“From day one I have never been able to use my hands,” Mr Kepner said of the lifeless appendages that came from a donor.

“I can do absolutely nothing. I sit in my chair all day and wear my TV out.”

Mr Kepner said he had always assumed he would be able to have the hands removed if the operation wasn’t a success but has now been told by doctors it is not that simple to reverse the procedure.

Dr. Vijay Gorantla, who is overseeing Mr Kepner’s case, told Time Magazine it’s uncertain if Mr Kepner would be able to use prosthetics if the hands were removed, and that rigorous physical therapy would be required.

The surgeon who led Mr Kepner’s transplant, Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, said most people who have had double hand transplants have gone on to have functioning hands which allow them to lead an almost normal life.

The need for removal had only occurred in six out of 100 similar transplants in the US and Europe, Dr Lee said.

Before the operation Mr Kepler said he was 75 percent functional with the use of prosthetics, but now he was zero percent functional.

But despite his hardships, Mr Kepler said he did not bear any ill will to the doctors who performed his operation.