Two facial transplants - one on a Chinese man who had half his face ripped off by a bear - have proved highly successful two years on, opening the way for wider use of the procedure, studies released today report.
The operations in China and France are among a handful that have pioneered the use of donor tissue to repair severe disfigurement of the face caused by burns, tumours, malformations or trauma, such as car crashes.
Despite some complications, both patients regained most normal physical functions, and enjoyed huge psychological benefits as well.
Both studies were published in the British medical journal The Lancet.
A team led by Shuzhong Guo of the Institute of Plastic Surgery at Xijing Hospital in Xian, China, reported on the case of a 30-year-old man, Li Guoxing, who was mauled by a bear in October 2004.
The transplant took place in April 2006 and included the connection of arteries and veins, and repair of the nose, lip and sinuses.
The farmer, who was attacked while looking for a stray sheep, experienced three acute episodes during which his immune system tried to reject the tissue, but doctors managed to control them with the use of steroids and drugs.
In the second case, a 29-year-old man in France with a facial tumour called a neurofibroma, caused by a genetic disorder, underwent surgery in January 2007.
The tumour was so massive and hideous that the man could neither eat or speak properly, and was socially isolated.
The Frenchman's immune system also flared up, but treatment overcame both rejection episodes. One year after surgery, sensation and motor function had returned to the transplanted tissue.
Less then 13 months after the transplant, the man was working fulltime and considered himself to be fully integrated into society.
French woman Isabelle Dinoire became the first person in the world to receive a face transplant in 2005.
