The Letterkenny student who went to America for groundbreaking surgery to give him a new chin has exclusively told UTV he is disappointed with how he looks, after surgeons said there is nothing more they can do.
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After more than $1m worth of surgery, Alan Doherty's parents have revealed they will consult medics in Ireland to see if they can help him.
Alan Doherty captured thousands of hearts across Ireland in the summer of 2007 after UTV first broadcast how he was going to America for pioneering surgery to give him a new chin.
In America, the then 17-year-old became a celebrity as virtually every television network picked up on the story and headlined it bringing Alan's infectious spirit and optimism to millions of homes coast to coast.
On his first trip to New York, Alan - one of only two people in the world born without a chin - was shown computer-generated pictures of how surgeons predicted he would look at the end of his operations.
But three years on, that look has not been achieved.
There has been a dramatic change, but Alan's hopes of a total transformation in his appearance have not been fully realised - even after seven transatlantic trips and procedures which have cost $1.2m, three times the original estimate.
On his most recent visit to New York, medics told Alan - who can speak only with the aid of a light writer - there was nothing more they could do for him to improve his right jaw or his drooping lower lip.
Alan's mum, Bernie, told UTV the family had thought the end result would look more like the computer-generated images they had been shown.
"We are happy enough because Alan has come a long way from when he did start off. They have done some great work, but we are not happy with the end results," she said.
Paul McBride, who helped raised funds for Alan's surgery, said: "For a dream for Alan it has been value for money - because what price do you put on his dream?
"But in real terms, in the way he wanted to look, it has fell short. But again, Alan embraces that.
"He is a realist and he knows. He coined the phrase a few years ago, 'It might be as near a chin as I am going to get.'"
After travelling thousands of miles back and forward across the Atlantic, the family may now look closer to home for a fresh medical assessment of what has been achieved in America and what more could be done for Alan in Ireland.
© UTV News