Health News
Belgian doctors carry out Europe's third face transplant
Jan 7, 2012, 16:41 GMT
Brussels - Belgian doctors have successfully carried out a face transplant, making their country only the third in Europe to have done the procedure, local media reported on Saturday.
The identity of the patient, who was treated at the university hospital of the western city of Ghent, was not revealed. The patient has started to drink and talk six days after the operation, earlier than expected, one doctor told the broadcaster RTBF.
He said the transplant covered the area from below the eyelids to the neck. The surgery, which had been in preparation for three years, lasted almost 20 hours, the Belga news agency said.
It was the nineteenth operation of its kind in the world. French doctors pioneered the procedure in 2005.
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