U.S. woman receives first ever 'near total' face transplant

London, December 17 (ANI): In what is being hailed as the first ever "near total" facial transplant, 80 per cent of a woman's face has been replaced by a team of surgeons in the United States.

Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic, in Ohio, have revealed that they used skin from a donor for the surgery.

Media reports suggest that this surgery marks America's first facial transplant operation.

Some reports even suggest that the surgery took place two weeks ago, and the doctors waited to see whether transplant would be successful before making an announcement.

Team leader Prof. Maria Siemionow, director of plastic surgery research at the clinic, will be revealing more details shortly.

This is the fourth time that a face transplant has been carried out, but faces were replaced only partially in all previous cases.

The scientific fraternity has praised the Cleveland Clinic for this commendable work.

"It is a real step forward for people who have severe disfigurement and this operation has been done by a team who have really prepared and worked towards this for a number of years," the Telegraph quoted Dr Alex Clarke, of the Royal Free Hospital in London, as saying.

"These transplants have proven that the technical difficulties can be overcome and psychologically the patients are doing well. They have all have reacted positively and have begun to do things they were not able to before.

"All the things people thought were barriers to this kind of operations have been overcome," she added. (ANI)