Spanish doctors perform world's first complete face transplant

Barcelona - Spanish doctors have performed the world's first complete face transplant, medical team leader Joan Pere Barret announced Thursday.

A team of 30 experts performed the transplant at Barcelona's Vall d'Hebron hospital on a young man who had been injured in an accident five years ago.

The patient was unable to breath, swallow or speak properly, Barret explained.

He received new facial muscles, skin, nose, lips, jaw, teeth, palate and cheekbones in the 22-hour operation, which was performed on March 20.

The patient's new face did not resemble that of the anonymous donor, but was created in the likeness of the face he had before he was injured.

The patient was doing well, Barret said.

He was expected to start "talking and eating, and also smiling and laughing" within a few weeks' time, the doctor explained.

The patient was expected to be able to lead a "practically" normal life after recovering from the operation.

Around 10 face transplant operations have been performed around the world, but all of them were partial ones, according to the Spanish medical team.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320089,spanish-doctors-perform-worlds-first-complete-face-transplant.html.