A woman who had suffered severe facial trauma received the first face transplant in U.S history, a team of doctors announced this week. The woman had at least 80% of her face replaced by donor tissue from a cadaver, leaving only her upper eyelids, forehead, lower lip, and chin in their original form.

The 22-hour procedure performed by surgeons from the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio is the fourth face transplant ever performed and is the most extensive to date. This was the first face transplant to have included bones, along with muscle, skin, blood vessels, and nerves.

Doctors did not release the patient's name or the details of how she was injured, but said the injuries were so severe that she could not eat or breathe on her own. The woman is reportedly doing well and showing no signs of rejecting the new face two weeks after the surgery was performed.

Since a face transplant is not considered a life-saving procedure (as a heart or liver transplant would be), there are ethical issues surrounding the procedure. The patient must remain on anti-rejection drugs for the rest of her life and there is a risk of serious, even life-threatening complications. For this reason, transplants that improve the quality of life are unlikely to be common.

However, since the first partial face transplant performed in France in 2005 has proved to be very successful, surgeons now seem more comfortable with the idea of face transplants. In the near future, the procedure may become a standard in facial reconstruction, though it will likely be reserved for cases in which all other attempts at reconstructive surgery have failed.

Do you have a story about dealing with a facial injury or reconstructive surgery? Share your story on Healia Health Community for Facial Injuries and Disorders.

_{Photo: Crucially, Flickr, Creative Commons}