The first full face transplant patient in Spain has been so pleased by his new appearance that he smiled, according to media reports Monday.

The 43-year-old patient may go home in about a week, said transplant specialist surgeon Pedro Cavadas at La Fe hospital in the eastern city of Valencia.

He is supposed to eat and speak intelligibly again after more than a decade of not being able to, but he was so happy when he saw himself in a mirror that he smiled. Hospital officials noted that the patient is continuing to make good progress.

Part of the patient's face was lost more than 10 years ago due to radiotherapy to treat a tumor. He received a new face from a 35-year-old man who had died in a traffic accident. The operation was conducted last Tuesday at the hospital.

There have been four face transplant operations in France, two in the United States and one in China, said media reports.

(Agencies via Xinhua August 24, 2009)