A man who had a successful face transplant has spoken of the moment he realised he was "normal looking" again.

Andy Sandness received a donor's nose, cheeks, mouth, lips, jaw, chin and even teeth during 32 hours of surgery last June.

The American had been left with horrific disfiguring injuries after depression led him to try to take his own life by shooting himself in the face before Christmas 2006.

Mr Sandness said the surgery 'exceeded his expectations'

He said he instantly knew he had made a terrible mistake and when police arrived, he begged them: "Please, please don't let me die!!"

The Wyoming man, then aged 21, survived and said following the rifle shooting he tried to avoid looking at children because he was afraid of frightening them.


Image: Mr Sandness before his face transplant

He was also worried they may ask him what happened, which he said "hurts".

But then after his transplant, a child did not react to him in a lift and the surgery's success then dawned on Mr Sandness.

He said: "I knew one day that I was normal looking, because I hopped in the elevator.

"I stepped back to the back wall. And there was a little kid in there. And he looks over at me, and just looks straight back at his mom and doesn't say a word."

Image: Mr Sandness receiving treatment after surgery

Resting in his hospital bed in Rochester, Minnesota, Mr Sandness was filmed being given a mirror to see the results of the painstaking surgery and wrote on a notebook it "far exceeded my expectations".

It took about 24 hours to procure the donor's face, which involved taking bone, muscle, skin and nerves.

The patient has now had eight operations over four months and plastic surgeon Dr Samir Mardini said: "It's just a miracle that we were able to offer this gift to Andrew."

Mr Sandness received the transplant from donor, Calen "Rudy" Ross, also 21, who had fatally shot himself.

Mr Ross' family have been in contact with the donor.

Image: The patient's donor Calen 'Rudy' Ross

Mr Sandness, who is a keen hunter, said: "They sent pictures of him hunting and talked about how much he loved to hunt and how much he loved to fish and how much he loved his dogs.

"And so I wrote back, and I told them he's still going to continue to love hunting, fishing and dogs through me."