Serdar Nazif Nasır is a Turkish plastic surgeon. An associate professor at the Hacettepe University Medical School in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

, he led the team that performed in February 2012 the second full

face transplant A face transplant is a medical procedure to replace all or part of a person's face using tissue from a donor. Part of a field called "Vascularized Composite Tissue Allotransplantation" (VCA) it involves the transplantation of facial skin, the n ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Education

Nasır finished the high school 1989 in

Yenimahalle, Ankara Yenimahalle is a municipality and metropolitan district of Ankara Province, Turkey. Its area is 219 km2, and its population is 704,652 (2022). It is a fast-growing urban residential district of the city of Ankara, Turkey's capital. Its elevat ...

. He completed his medical education at the Medicine Faculty of

Ankara University Ankara University () is a public university, public research university in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the History of the Republic of Turkey, formation of the Turkish republ ...

in 1996. Between 1996-2002, he conducted his specialty education in the Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery of Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine. After working seven years at

Süleyman Demirel University Süleyman Demirel University (SDU) () is a public List of universities in Turkey, university located in Isparta, Turkey. Established in 1992, the university, with around 70.000 students, is the second largest academic institution in Turkey. S ...

Isparta Isparta is a city in western Turkey. It is the seat of Isparta Province and Isparta District.İl ...

, Serdar Nasır returned to Hacettepe University in 2009. He carried out further studies between 2006-2008 on composite tissue transplants at

Cleveland Clinic Cleveland Clinic is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Academic health science center, academic Medical centers in the United States, medical center based in Cleveland, Ohio. Owned and operated by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, an O ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, USA. Serdar Nasır is specialized in the fields of

breast reconstruction Breast reconstruction is the surgical process of rebuilding the shape and look of a breast, most commonly in women who have had surgery to treat breast cancer. It involves using autologous tissue, prosthetic implants, or a combination of both wi ...

hand surgery Hand surgery deals with both surgical and non-surgical treatment of conditions and problems that may take place in the hand or upper extremity (commonly from the tip of the hand to the shoulder), American Society for Surgery of the Hand. Retriev ...

, repair of tissue deficiencies, restoration of facial muscles in paralysis of facial nerves, and face and body esthetics.

Achievements

On February 24, 2012, Serdar Nasır and his team successfully performed two important transplants simultaneously at the Hacettepe University Hospital, a full face transplant and a multiple limb transplant. While the full face transplant was the second one in Turkey following the country's first-ever one after almost one month, the two-arm and two-leg transplant was the first trial in the world. The face of 25-year-old Cengiz Gül was badly burnt in a television tube implosion accident when he was two-years of age. The donor was 40-year-old N. A. (his family did not allow revealing of his identity), who was declared brain dead two days before the surgery following a motorcycle accident occurred on February 17. The second transplant was simultaneously carried out in another operating room on Şevket Çavdar (25), who lost his two arms and two legs in a

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

explosion caused by

short circuit A short circuit (sometimes abbreviated to short or s/c) is an electrical circuit that allows a current to travel along an unintended path with no or very low electrical impedance. This results in an excessive current flowing through the circuit ...

as he was carrying out installation in 1998. The organs were taken from the same donor at

Dokuz Eylül University Dokuz Eylül University () (DEÜ) is a Public university, public research university in İzmir, Turkey. Founded in 1982, it is organized into 18 faculties. It holds the distinction of being the first university in Turkey to implement the probl ...

's hospital in

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

by Prof. Gökhan Tunçbilek, and were brought to Ankara on board an aircraft belonging to the Ministry of Health. Şevket Çavdar died on February 27, 2012, while he was being treated in the intensive care station, after his transplanted two arms and two legs were amputated the day before due to

immune dysregulation In biology, immunity is the state of being insusceptible or resistant to a noxious agent or process, especially a pathogen or infectious disease. Immunity may occur naturally or be produced by prior exposure or immunization. Innate and adaptive ...

. This case was accepted as first quadruple extremity transplantation in the world.Nasir S, Kilic YA, Karaaltin MV, Erdem Y. Lessons learned from the first quadruple extremity transplantation in the world. Ann Plast Surg. 2014 Sep;73(3):336-40.

Awards

Serdar Nasır is the winner of second prizes in national competitions of experimental and clinical specialty for plastic surgery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nasir, Serdar Living people Turkish plastic surgeons Ankara University Faculty of Medicine alumni Hacettepe University alumni Academic staff of Süleyman Demirel University Academic staff of Hacettepe University Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people)