Full-face transplant recipient Dallas Wiens, with his daughter. Hospital lasagna. That was the first thing that Dallas Wiens — who in March received the first full-face transplant performed in the U.S. — was able to smell after that sense was returned to him by a 15-plus hour surgery. He’s now heading home to Texas. As the Associated Press reports , Wiens appeared at a press conference today at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston, sporting a new nose, lips, skin, muscle and nerves from an anonymous donor. The 25-year-old was injured in 2008 when he came into contact with a power line. His physicians say he will continue to improve, though he will remain blind and won’t

regain full sensation in his face. Brigham & Women’s received a $3.4 million grant from the Department of Defense to fund facial transplants in both military veterans and civilians. As NPR’s Shots Blog reports , another man — also shocked by a power line — received a full-face transplant at the hospital in late April. And the Connecticut woman who was attacked by a 200-pound chimpanzee in 2009 is on the waiting list for full-face and hand transplants. We chatted last year with the surgical lead for the Brigham’s hand-transplant program. Here’s some amazing video of Wiens. Image: Lightchaser Photography/Brigham & Women’s Hospital

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First U.S. Full-Face Transplant Patient Heading Home to Texas