French woman gets world's first face transplant
Update with photo - 2006 02 01 My strange life with someone else's face
A 38-year-old woman from northern France has been given the world's first partial face transplant using skin from another person.
The woman had lost her nose, lips and chin after a dog attack in May and has been unable to speak or eat properly since. Doctors at a hospital in Amiens grafted those parts from a person who was brain-dead.
Officials at the hospital say the woman received extensive counselling prior to surgery. They say she will not look like her donor, due to a different bone structure, but will have a "hybrid" face.
The issue of face transplants is controversial because of the ethical concerns over psychological impact. Surgical teams from several countries, including the U.S. and Britain, have been waiting to do such a surgery but authorities in other countries have been reluctant to grant permission.
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Skin from another person's face is seen as preferable to taking skin from another part of a patient's body because of problems with matching skin tone.
The BBC is reporting the surgery took place over the weekend and lasted for about five hours.
The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, is reported to be in excellent health. Doctors say she survived the first 48 hours after surgery without any complications. The first 48 hours post-surgery is considered to be crucial in determining how well an operation went.
The woman will have to take immunosuppressant drugs for the rest of her life, like other transplant patients, to help her body cope with the donated tissue.
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