Although internal organ transplants are relatively commonplace – odds are that you know someone who's had one – entire external body parts are far more rare. Among these invasive, complicated procedures is the hand transplant, numbering under 150 patients in recorded medical history according to Johns Hopkins.
Even more Herculean is a double hand transplant, which is exactly what it sounds like. Only a few of these operations have been carried out since the very first one in the UK in 2021, largely due to their extreme difficulty and a lack of donors- but the most recent one is giving a middle-aged Delhi painter a new lease on life and another shot at his career. (The linked article contains a before-and-after image).
The unnamed painter, who initially lost his hands in a train accident, received a pair of brand-new ones from a willing donor in a surgery that took 12 grueling hours. Even though he faces weeks of recovery, he was still able to flash a double thumbs-up at the end of the procedure. As shitty as the world seems to be getting around us, it seems good things do still happen sometimes.
Previously: The first person in the US to receive two hand transplants heads home
