A California man who tried to kill himself has received the most advanced face transplant ever.
A California man who tried to kill himself with a shotgun is now in love with life after undergoing the most advanced face transplant surgery ever performed.
Cameron Underwood, 26, had struggled for years with depression, and in 2016, he placed a shotgun under his chin and pulled the trigger.
Two years later, he made his first public appearance after undergoing a series of procedures to restore his face, teeth and jaws.
"Thank you for not giving up on me," he said Thursday during a press conference at New York University Langone Health.
Underwood needed five months of skin graft surgery in order for plastic surgeons to devise a plan to reconstruct his face.
The shotgun blast had left him missing most of his lower jaw, his palate and all but one tooth.
At New York Langone, a team of more than 100 medical professionals worked on redesigning Underwood's countenance.
The face transplant, performed in January, took 25 hours.
His mother, Bev Bailey-Potter, told People magazine she contact NYU's Langone center after reading an article about a face transplant performed by Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez.
A donor was found in January after 23-year-old Will Fisher, a New York City resident, died. He had listed himself as an organ donor.
"It hasn't been easy," Underwood said. "But it has been worth it."
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