A Mississippi volunteer  firefighter, whose face got awfully disfigured as he was attempting to quell fire in a home in 2011, has received the world's most extensive face transplant, doctors from a New York hospital said.

Officials at New York University's Langone Medical Center revealed that the 26-hour facial transplant was performed by doctors at the hospital in August. The face of late 26 years old David Rodebaugh, a bicycling enthusiast in Brooklyn, was transplanted to the face of 41-year-old Patrick Hardison.

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Rodebaugh was pronounced clinically dead after a cycling accident and his parents approved the transplant of their son's face.

Doctors said Hardison received Rodebaugh's full scalp and face, together with his ears, nose, lips and upper and lower eyelids.

It's been four years since Hardison was burned in a volunteer fire rescue. Now, after his facial transplant, he can live his life the way he used to without fear of being physically judged by other people.

Hardison can now blink and close his eyes while sleeping, which doctors said were key steps in preventing him from getting blind.

Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, the chief plastic surgeon who led the 150-person medical team that performed the procedure, said Hardison can now live a normal life after getting a new face.

Simultaneous surgeries took place, Rodriguez said, with Hardison on one operating table while Rodebaugh was on the other. The NYU medical team had practiced for a full year to get the procedure right.

"You only have one chance to land the Rover. The same goes with the face," Rodriguez told reporters at a news conference in New York on Monday.

Proof of the procedure's success was tested when hospital staff took Hardison to Macy's to go shopping for new clothes and the shoppers didn't take a second look or stare at him strangely.

Rodriguez said the operation started with slitting the skin at the back of the donor's head, with both sides being peeled forward with pieces of bone attached on the chin, nose,ears, and  cheekbones and then draped it precisely unto Hardison's head,

"Everything has to be precisely positioned," said Rodriguez after the operation.

Reports indicate that NYU will pay for the $1 million surgery after Hardison's buddy reached out to the university to ask for assistance for his friend whose children were afraid of their dad's disfigured face.

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