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BBC NEWS | Health | Woman has first face transplant
Woman has first face transplant
Surgeons operating
The operation lasted several hours
Surgeons in France have carried out the first face transplant, it has been reported.
The woman had lost her nose, lips and chin after being savaged by a dog.
In the controversial operation, tissues, muscles, arteries and veins were taken from a brain-dead donor and attached to the patient's lower face.
Doctors stress the woman will not look like her donor, but nor will she look like she did before the attack - instead she will have a "hybrid" face.
This is the first face transplant using skin from another person
Iain Hutchison, Barts and the London Hospital
Q&A: First face transplant
It has been technically possible to carry out such a transplant for some years, with teams in the US, the UK and France researching the procedure.
Skin from another person's face is better for transplants as it will be a better match than skin from another part of the patient's body, which could have a different texture or colour.
But the ethical concerns of a face transplant, and the psychological impact to the patient of looking different has held teams back.
Concerns relating to immunosuppression, psychological impact and the consequence of technical failure have so far prevented ethical approval of the procedure in the UK, though doctors here are fully able to perform transplants.
Woman has first face transplant
Surgeons operating
The operation lasted several hours
Surgeons in France have carried out the first face transplant, it has been reported.
The woman had lost her nose, lips and chin after being savaged by a dog.
In the controversial operation, tissues, muscles, arteries and veins were taken from a brain-dead donor and attached to the patient's lower face.
Doctors stress the woman will not look like her donor, but nor will she look like she did before the attack - instead she will have a "hybrid" face.
This is the first face transplant using skin from another person
Iain Hutchison, Barts and the London Hospital
Q&A: First face transplant
It has been technically possible to carry out such a transplant for some years, with teams in the US, the UK and France researching the procedure.
Skin from another person's face is better for transplants as it will be a better match than skin from another part of the patient's body, which could have a different texture or colour.
But the ethical concerns of a face transplant, and the psychological impact to the patient of looking different has held teams back.
Concerns relating to immunosuppression, psychological impact and the consequence of technical failure have so far prevented ethical approval of the procedure in the UK, though doctors here are fully able to perform transplants.