Simon Weston tells of the trauma of facial burns

He told Breakfast this morning: "I spent a lot of time locking myself away in my room and drinking huge amounts.

"There must be people living now as I did. I wasn't living. I was existing. I became suicidal and almost took my own life."

Simon was speaking as senior doctors began meeting to decide whether face transplants can go ahead in Britain.

The Ethics Committee at London's Royal Free Hospital has already given permission to select and evaluate possible patients - but no operations will be given final approval until other factors are taken into consideration.

What you told Breakfast What a thoughtful, articulate, courageous and nice person is Simon Weston - qualities not so easily transplantable. Good luck to him Jean, Newcastle Read more viewers' comments on our Your Say page

Surgeons could however wait months for the go ahead for any operations.

Simon said he hoped approval would be given for the new treatment.

He said: "Conventional methods can't reconstruct a face. It is impossible to make it look perfect just by conventional methods so maybe there is a need for something. I hope the Ethics Committee can see our argument is valid and worthwhile."

This morning on Breakfast we also talked to Iain Hutchison, a facial surgeon at St Barts and Professor Nadey Hakim, President, International College of Surgeons. You can hear what they had to say by clicking the link on the right of the page.