Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/doctors-work-to-restore-damaged-faces-of-iraq-war-soldiers Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript As a result of the explosives and weapons used in Iraq, more than 100 soldiers have sustained severe injuries to their faces. But with the help of facial prosthetics and advanced plastic surgery, doctors can help repair the damage and their lives. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. SUSAN DENTZER, NewsHour Health Correspondent: The face of Jeffrey Mittman is the face of war. He has a large new nose and new lips, thanks to his plastic surgeon.JEFFREY MITTMAN, Injured in Iraq War: Hey, how are you? SUSAN DENTZER: He did not have these a few, short months ago. For that matter, he didn't have much of a face, either. On duty in Iraq in July 2005, Army Sergeant First Class Mittman was driving a Humvee when it was attacked with an improvised explosive device. JEFFREY MITTMAN: The IED blew. A projectile came through my window, and that's what caused my injuries. It knocked me out immediately, obviously, and caused all my facial injuries, took my nose, my lips, most of my teeth, and damaged my right arm. SUSAN DENTZER: When he was flown back to the U.S. and stitched hastily back together, he looked like this. JEFFREY MITTMAN: What's it say, cutie? You know I can't read it. SUSAN DENTZER: Mittman is now back home with his wife and two young daughters in Indiana. He's one of more than 100 Armed Forces personnel whose faces have been seriously wounded or, in some cases, nearly obliterated in the war in Iraq.The helmets and body armor they've worn while on duty protected their brains and torsos, but those safeguards have still have left faces vulnerable to IEDs or snipers' bullets. Doctors who've treated these faceless wounded say Mittman is one of the lucky ones since, after nearly 30 surgeries, his face is presentable enough to show on television.And although he also lost his left eye in the attack, he still has some peripheral vision in the right one. JEFFREY MITTMAN: I can see to the right and down and to the right. So to look at something, I have to actually look at the left, to the left of it. SUSAN DENTZER: So, with the help of special magnifying equipment, he can read or use a computer by turning his head to the side.