Changing face of medicine

The doctor and hospital are ready. Now they need the patient for the world’s first face transplant, writes Marilynn Marchione.

IN the next few weeks, five men and seven women will secretly visit the Cleveland Clinic to interview for the chance to have a radical operation the world's first face transplant.

They will smile, raise their eyebrows, close their eyes, open their mouths. Dr Maria Siemionow will study their cheekbones, lips and noses. She will ask what they hope to gain and what they most fear.