First face transplant patient goes public

THE Frenchwoman who received the world’s first partial face transplant showed off her new features yesterday, saying in a heavily slurred voice that she now looks “like everyone else” and hopes to resume a normal life.

Isabelle Dinoire's speech was difficult to understand, but she explained how she was disfigured by a dog bite last year, and she thanked the family of the donor who gave her new lips, a chin and nose.

A circular scar was still visible where the face tissue was attached in the 15-hour operation in Amiens on November 27.