Face transplants giving people back their lives

Patrick Hardison, 41, had face transplant surgery in August 2015. The surgery was performed by a plastic surgeon from New York University Langone Medical Center. Hardison, a volunteer firefighter, was injured 15 years ago.

In 2005, Frenchwoman Isabelle Dinoire, 39, was the first person to undergo a partial face transplant after being mauled by her dog. She is pictured a few months after her surgery and a year later.

Connie Culp was injured when her husband shot her in 2004. She underwent a near-total face transplant at the Cleveland Clinic in 2008, the first operation of its kind in the United States.

Li Guoxing, China's first partial face transplant patient, stands with his family in 2006. He died in 2008.

Texan Dallas Wiens, whose face was burned off after his head touched an electrical wire, was the first American to receive a full face transplant in March 2011.

A 33-year-old Polish man identified only as Grzegorz received the country's first face transplant in May 2013, after being disfigured by a machine at a stonemason's workshop. Polish doctors described it as the world's first life-saving face transplant.

American Richard Norris: left, in high school in 1993; center, after suffering a gunshot injury; right, after face transplant surgery.

James Maki fell onto the electrified third rail at a Boston subway station on June 30, 2005, destroying the entire of the core of his face. After having a transplant, he said he couldn't wait to eat a ribeye steak.