Man graces magazine cover after going through entire face transplant

                       Richard Norris before and after pic    Photo:www.gq.com

He gets thousands of fan letters every year and next month will appear on the front of men's magazine GQ.

But what's it like to be living with someone else's face every day?

Apart from his brown eyes, almost every part of Richard's face, even his tongue, belonged to someone else.

It was taken from a recently deceased 21-year-old and attached to Richard's scalp during pioneering surgery by Eduardo Rodriguez, a Baltimore reconstructive facial surgeon in March 2012.

Despite the success, Richard, now 39, has to take pills every day and be extremely cautious to maintain his health.

He cannot get sunburn, a cold, drink alcohol or risk falling. Even a cut could trigger rejection of his face.

But Richard, of Hillsville, Virginia, says he knows his story gives inspiration to thousands of others who need transplant surgery.

"A drop of hope can create an ocean," he says. "But a bucket of faith can create an entire world."

He was chosen for the face transplant after more than a dozen operations which attempted to give him functional use of his mouth.

Richard managed to keep his eyesight, but doctors could not repair his lips, nose or the front of his tongue.

“The face transplant was one of very few options left,” says Richard.

The day-and-a-half operation involved more than 150 doctors, nurses and staff at the University of Maryland Medical Centre.

When he saw his new look in the mirror for the first time, Richard was understandably overjoyed.

He says: “The only thing I could do was hug the doctor.”

Experts gave him a new tongue for proper speech, eating and chewing and normally aligned teeth.

They also connected his nerves to allow him to smile.

Dr Eduardo Rodriguez, who led the transplant, says: “It’s a surreal experience to look at him.

"Before people used to stare at Richard because he wore a mask and they wanted to see the deformity.

"Now they have another reason to stare at him and it’s really amazing.”

After years of going out of his way to avoid people, Richard is now surprisingly comfortable socialising – especially with staff from the hospital.

“Everybody knows him. He’s such an animated guy,” says Dr Rodriguez.

But while Richard’s results are ­“extraordinary” it will take time for him to recover fully.

Medical staff have the challenge of teaching Richard, who has not eaten or spoken properly for 15 years, to use his fully functional face.

He will also have more minor surgery for the soft tissue of his face – such as his eyelids.

Richard’s transplant was possible thanks to 10 years of research and 22 face ­transplants to date.

The first was performed in 2005 on a French woman mauled by her dog.

It is now hoped the medical breakthrough could help as many as 200 war veterans badly disfigured by bombs.