ANTALYA (AA) - Doctors woke on Tuesday 27-year-old Recep Sert, the fifth patient to undergo a face transplant surgery in Turkey and also the country's first patient to have a chin transplant, from an induced sedation.
Holding a press conference at the hospital, Head of the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Department at Antalya's Akdeniz University Hospital Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ozlenen Ozkan and Anaesthesiology and Reanimation Department academician Assist. Prof. Dr. Melike Cengiz gave information on the medical condition of Sert who underwent an 8-hour successful surgery of face and chin transplant on July 18.
Reported to have a good performance status, Sert has been held in intensive care unit for the last five days under induced sedation to allow him to recover.
Stressing that the treatment of Sert in the intensive care unit is proceeding well, Cengiz said he was in stable condition.
Cengiz said Sert was conscious and able to respond to instructions, still held in the intensive care unit to prevent any postoperative complications.
"We plan to keep Sert in the intensive care unit for a few more days to continue the treatment in a controlled way," added Cengiz.
Dr Ozlenen Ozkan noted that Sert opened his eyes and he recognized his doctors, "which is a glad news for us."
"We will hear him speak clearly within 10-15 days," she said.
Prof. Dr. Omer Ozkan of Akdeniz University Hospital and his team performed on Thursday a full face transplantation along with a chin transplantation on Sert who lost his left eye and chin in a shotgun accident.
During Turkey's 5th face transplant surgery in Antalya, the face and chin of the Polish tourist Andrej Kucza were successfully transplanted to the Turkish patient.
Sert, a chef living in Izmir, was severely wounded in the face when a shotgun he was cleaning fired in 2007. In the accident, he lost 12 of his teeth, his left eye and most of his chin and his nose was heavily scarred. Since then he has undergone multiple life-saving and reconstructive surgeries. He applied to Akdeniz University Hospital in 2012 for a face transplant.
- Turkey's Face Transplant History
Turkey's face transplant adventure began when the family of Ahmet Kaya who committed suicide on January 21, 2012 donated his face. The face removed from Kaya was transplanted to 19-year-old Ugur Acar whose face was almost completely seared by a burning blanket when he was only 40 days old. The successful operation, a first in Turkish plastic surgery history, put Prof. Dr. Omer Ozkan and his team in the spotlight of the international and Turkish media.
The second face transplant surgery of Turkey was performed at Ankara's Hacettepe University on Cengiz Gul while the third one occurred in Ankara on March 17, 2012 at Gazi University Faculty of Medicine with a partial face transplantation operation on 20-year-old Hatice Nergis.
Turkey's fourth face transplant surgery was performed again by Prof. Omer Ozkan at Akdeniz University Hospital in which the face of 19-year-old Tevfik Yilmaz was transplanted to 34-year-old Turan Colak.
