Fort Worth, Texas man Dallas Weins received a successful face transplant.
For most of us, there’s nothing more natural than smiling at a friend or loved one.
But Dallas Weins, a 25-year-old man from Fort Worth, Texas, believed he’d never smile again after a 2008 accident involving a high-voltage power line left him permanently disfigured. The tragic accident blinded him and severely burned his entire face.
In the years since, he’d had more than two dozen surgeries to repair his damaged face, but after all that, he still had no way to show emotion.
Then last year, the Department of Defense spent $3.4 million to fund full face transplants for Weins and two other patients, with the goal of offering the service to disfigured soldiers wounded in battle.
Though Weins suffered from an infection, his body did not reject the foreign tissue—and now, he’s feeling comfortable with his new face. He can drink through a straw and smell again—and most importantly, he can smile.
“The ability to smile and to show emotion on my face, even unintentionally, is such a natural thing,” Wiens told the Dallas Morning News. “Having a new face has changed me dramatically.”