http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051201/ap_on_he_me/france_face_transplant_18
LYON, France - Doctors in France said they had performed the world's first partial face transplant, forging into a risky medical frontier with their operation on a woman disfigured by a dog bite.
The 38-year-old woman, who wants to remain anonymous, had a nose, lips and chin grafted onto her face from a brain-dead donor whose family gave consent. The operation, performed Sunday, included a surgeon already famous for transplant breakthroughs, Dr. Jean-Michel Dubernard.
"The patient's general condition is excellent and the transplant looks normal," said a statement issued Wednesday from the hospital in the northern city of Amiens where the operation took place. Dubernard would not discuss the surgery, but confirmed that it involved the nose, lips and chin
Some considerations:
"The recipient chose to take the risk of the operation failing if the blood vessels become blocked. There's a medium-term risk of the immunosuppressant drugs failing to control rejection of the donor tissue, and a long-term risk of the drugs causing cancers.
"She could be back to square one without a face, needing further reconstruction operations."
Medics have been concerned over whether the side-effects of the the immunosuppression drugs, which patients must take for the rest of their lives, would outweigh the benefits.
The drugs can increase the risk of cancer. Concerns have also been raised over the psychological impact on the patient if the surgery failed.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/12/01/france.face/index.html?section=cnn_latest