A new face exposed

last updated 8 January 2015

Amiens, France

The woman who received the world’s first face transplant displayed her scarred but pleasant visage to the world this week, saying she hoped to assuage public curiosity so she could resume her life. Isabelle Dinoire appeared on French television to show off her new nose, lip, and chin—the product of breakthrough surgery that involved transplanting 20 muscles and connecting hundreds of nerves. Dinoire lost half her face last year, after she passed out from a drug overdose and her dog began chewing on her, apparently trying to revive her. She said her new look has not led to the identity crisis that some doctors feared. “I can express myself with my new face,” she said, “and so it’s now become my face.”