Amazing recovery for recipient of first face transplant

If the results of the world’s first partial face transplant is any indication, the British team that is now in the middle of preparations for the world’s first full facial transplant is on the right track.

BBC News gives us the goods:

The recipient of the first partial face transplant has recovered so well she can go out without people noticing her scars, her surgeon has said.

Isabelle Dinoire, from Amiens, France, received the graft from a brain-dead donor after being mauled by her dog.

One year on, her surgeon Bernard Devauchelle said she continued to make excellent progress and that he had plans to carry out more operations.

Mrs Dinoire has told him she could smile and looked like herself again.

"Aesthetically, the transplant has fitted in very well with the shape of her face. People who hadn't seen her before her accident now recognise her, which is very interesting.

"When she is in a crowd, she doesn't stick out as 'the transplant patient', and this is important.

"You still see scars, of course. From time to time, there are minor inflammations which occur near wires that lie deep beneath the skin.

"But elsewhere, the scar lines have almost completely faded. If she puts on a little bit of makeup, she looks fine."

He said her facial sensitivity, in terms of warmth and tactility, had been restored and facial mobility had returned. She is able to eat and drink without problems, and still smokes.

That should give Dr. Peter Butler and his team at London’s Royal Free Hospital some inspiration as they search for suitable candidates for the first-ever full face transplant.