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First-ever Facial Transplant Deemed Success For French woman ,

First-ever facial transplant success for French woman
AP
LYON, France (AP) — Doctors have performed the world’s first partial face transplant, grafting a nose, lips and chin onto a 38-year-old woman disfigured by a dog bite, French hospitals said Wednesday.
The surgery was performed Sunday in Amiens, northern France, according to a joint statement from the hospital and another in the southern city of Lyon, whose doctors worked together.

“The patient’s general condition is excellent and the transplant looks normal,” the statement said. The donor, a woman, was brain dead, and her family consented to the surgery, the statement said.

Dr. Jean-Michel Dubernard, one of the surgeons, told The Associated Press the operation was the world’s first of its kind and he confirmed that it included the nose, lips and chin.

But “we still don’t know when the patient will get out,” he said.

Scientists elsewhere have performed scalp and ear transplants, but a mouth and nose transplant would be a first. Experts say the mouth and nose are the most difficult parts of the face to transplant

Model of Face Transplant Technology

Fri Jan 6