Surgeons carry out world's first full face transplant

The breakthrough saw a 35-year-old man, identified solely as Jerome, receive a dead donor's features in a ground-breaking operation lasting almost a day.

Surgeons at the Henri-Mondor hospital, on the outskirts of the French capital, completed the procedure on June 27.

Since then Jerome has been in a critical condition in intensive care, but is now considered well enough for the surgeons to go public about him.

"It's a world first. There have been partial face transplants before, but nothing like this," said a source at the Henri-Mondor.

In late 2005 Isabelle Dinoire, now 43, underwent a 15 hour operation in Amiens, in the north of France, after her original face was ripped to pieces by her pet dog.

A triangle of face tissue including the nose and mouth was taken from a brain-dead suicide victim and grafted onto the divorced mother-of-two from nearby Valenciennes.

But Jerome, the victim of a genetic disease which meant his face was horribly deformed, is the first patient to undergo a full transplant.

Incredibly, it included eyelids, facial muscles and even the lachrymal canals which will allow Jerome to cry "naturally", said Professor Laurent Lantieri, the surgeon who led the operation.

Although Spanish medics claimed to have carried out a full transplant in April, Prof Lantieri claimed his was definitely the first, because lips and a full lachrymal system had been swapped – something which was once considered impossible.

Talking excitedly about Jerome, Prof Lantieri said: "He’s good. He walks, he eats, he talks," adding: "a beard is already growing on his new face. We’re the only ones to date to have transplated a whole face with lips and the entire lachrymal system. I’m proud because it’s happened in France."

Prof Lantieri said: "From a physiological point of view, the risks are infection and rejection."

Two years ago Prof Lantieri was responsible for the operation which saw Pascal Coler, a 24-year-old from Paris, receive a new face after suffering with Von Recklinghausen's disease – the so called "Elephant Man" condition.

Face transplants have been the subject of huge controversy since they started, with many claiming that patients are not mentally strong enough to live with someone else's face.

In April 2006 Chinese medics performed a transplant on Li Guoxing, who was mauled by a bear while protecting his sheep.

But he died less than two years later, with the trauma of having to take strong anti-rejection drugs every day being viewed as a contributory factor.

Despite this, the French are starting to perform face transplants as a matter of routine.

Their latest success will unsettle British medics who are lagging far behind in the so-called "Face Race".

In October 2006 surgeon Peter Butler and his team at London's Royal Free Hospital were given permission by the NHS ethics board to carry out a full face transplant.

But, almost four years on, they have yet to perform one.