Surgeons in the USA have carried out the world’s most comprehensive face transplant procedure. The operation, which took more than 20 hours, was carried out in August and at the time, surgeons said there was a 50 percent chance of success.

The surgical team, which was lead by Dr Eduardo Rodriguez, used the face of a donor to treat 41-year old fire fighter, Patrick Hardison, who suffered extensive burns while trying to save a woman from a house fire. Mr Hardison, a volunteer fire fighter, waited more than 12 months for a donor to become available.

During the procedure, two separate surgical teams worked to transplant the face of a 26-year old man who had died in a cycling accident onto Mr Hardison’s face. The procedure, which took 26 hours, was conducted at NYU Langone Medical Center.

At the time of the operation, there was only a 50/50 chance that the transplant would be successful and 3 months down the line, Mr Hardison is recovering well. He will need to take drugs to prevent his body from rejecting the donor cells for the rest of his life, but the operation has already had a very positive impact on his life.

Mr Hardison suffered third degree burns when trying to save a woman from a house fire. The whole of his face was affected and his scalp was also badly burned.

Speaking to the press, Dr Rodriguez explained that this was the most complex face transplant to date and Mr Hardison now has working eyelids, a full head of hair, new ears and eyebrows.

Following the million dollar procedure, Mr Hardison thanked the surgical team and said that the operation had already changed his life.