I had a full face transplant – the best decision I’ve ever made

A former soldier found a new life a decade after a horrific car accident in 2001.

Mitch Hunter, 42, underwent a life-changing full-face transplant 10 years later — only the second person in the US to receive it — that altered his physical appearance.

And he has now declared that the surgery was “the best decision I’ve ever made”.

The Indianapolis native lay on the operating table for 14 hours as 30 doctors used their time and skill to fix his cup, according to the South West News Service.

The surgery came 10 years after the accident in which a car he was in crashed into a 10,000-volt utility pole on a North Carolina freeway.

He pushed an injured female passenger out of the way to rescue her, but electrical currents then pulsed through his body — mostly his face — for about five minutes, according to SWNS.

After the crash, Hunter spent two months in a hospital and endured 67 reconstructive facial surgeries. Part of his right leg was amputated due to his burns, and he also required 20 skin grafts from his leg to fix the skin on his face and neck.

“I couldn’t believe how drastically my life had changed in just a few minutes,” he said.

The father of three later received the face transplant from a deceased organ donor, who used skin, soft tissue and cartilage from his nose, beard and eyebrows to transform Hunter’s new face.

The ex-soldier now has a beard and full emotion in his face again. After five months of swelling, its facade was fully formed.

“Oddly enough, I can grow my beard that once belonged to the donor — which is really weird,” Hunter said.

His decision to have the transplant came about because he didn’t want his children to be bullied and labeled “outcasts” because of his disfigurement.

“It’s annoying when people scream at the sight of you and I couldn’t imagine that happening around my own kids,” he said.

Recalling the aftermath of his accident, he realized that his family and friends were afraid to show him his reflection in the mirror.

“No one showed me a mirror for a few days, until my ex-girlfriend at the time came to visit and brought one,” he said. “I can’t describe the feeling I had when I saw myself like this, it didn’t feel real. I was unrecognizable.”

He also had no recollection of what had happened when he woke up a long 27 days after the tragedy.

“The transplant was the best decision of my life and it helped me put the accident behind me and finally move on with my life,” he told SWNS.