Joe DiMeo poses for a portrait, Monday, Jan. 25, 2021 at NYU Langone Health in New York, six months after an extremely rare double hand and face transplant.
(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)NEW YORK – Almost six months after a rare face and hands transplant, Joe DiMeo is relearning how to smile, blink, pinch and squeeze.
Worldwide, surgeons have completed at least 18 face transplants and 35 hand transplants, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, or UNOS, which oversees the U.S. transplant system.
But simultaneous face and double hand transplants are extremely rare and have only been tried twice before.
DiMeo can feel his new forehead and hands get cold, and often reaches up to push his long hair off of his face.