Richard Norris' Successful Face Transplant Lands Him in GQ Cover [WATCH VIDEOS]

Richard Norris, the accidental gunshot victim who had a very successful face transplant thanks to Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, is now on the cover of GQ magazine. The 39-year-old Norris accidentally shot himself on the face in 1997, when he was just 22 years old. While he survived the ordeal, it ruined his face beyond recognition. He had to spend his life hiding from the world. But now, he is showing off his face to everyone.

According to GQ, Norris' first surgery with Dr. Rodriguez happened on March 19, 2012. Rodriguez used the face of a 21-year-old man named Joshua who died in a traffic accident and transplanted it to Norris' face. The surgery reportedly took 36 hours to finish.

Click HERE to see the before and after photos of Norris, including his GQ cover from the magazine's official Web site.

It's been two years since his successful full face transplant surgery and Norris is doing great. Aside from the attention he's been getting from the media, he also gets a lot of fan mail. He even admitted to having a girlfriend from New Orleans. The girl used to be one of his fans until they decided to take it to the next level.

Norris used to wear masks to hide his disfigured face before. But now, the masks are gone. He spoke to NBC News Correspondent/Anchor Ann Curry in 2013 and said that he holds his head up now whenever he walks out in public. Click HERE to watch a video of Richard's interview with NBC's Ann Curry.

Norris is still having some difficulty with his speech, but he is constantly working on it to improve. His successful face transplant surgery not only made him feel normal again, but also gave him the confidence he needed to start over and finally move on from his accident and his disfigured face which constantly reminded him of his past. Now that he has landed himself in the cover of a GQ magazine, including a nine page photo spread, he has shown the world that there is hope for someone like him who has suffered and lost a lot in the past. Thanks to innovative doctors like Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez who took a risk despite the odds being against him. And, it paid off because Rodriguez has been named the Chair of Department of Plastic Surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center on August 26, 2013. For more news like this, as well as other news about science, technology, health, business, sports, entertainment and finance, keep reading International Business Times.

Watch the videos below featuring Richard Norris:

CREDIT: YouTube/GeoBeats News