Spanish hospital claims 1st full-face transplant

In this image taken from TV shows a computer-generated image released by the Vall d'Hebron Hospital in Barcelona, Spain on Friday, April 23, 2010, of one of the various steps undertaken to perform a full-face transplant on a young male patient in late March 2010 . The hospital in Spain says it has carried out the world's first full-face transplant, giving a young man who lost his in an accident a new nose, skin, jaws, cheekbones, teeth and other features. (AP Photo/Vall d'Hebron Hospital, TVE, via APTN )

MADRID (AP) — A hospital in Spain says it has carried out the world’s first full-face transplant, giving a man a new nose, skin, jaws, cheekbones, teeth and other features after he lost his face in an accident.

Other transplant experts lauded the surgery but were not sure it could technically be called ‘full-face.’

The operation was carried out by a 30-member medical team in late March and took 24 hours to perform, according to the Vall d’Hebron Hospital in Barcelona.

The patient now has a completely new face from his hairline down and only one visible scar, which looks like a wrinkle running across his neck, said Dr. Joan Pere Barret, the surgeon who led the team.