The Cleveland Clinic has just announced that its surgeons have performed the first face transplant in the United States. Unfortunately, the clinic refused to release any details other than to say that a team led by reconstructive surgeon Maria Siemjonow replaced about 80 percent of a disfigured woman's face with that of a deceased female donor within the last two weeks. However, neither the recipient nor the donor were identified, and Eileen Sheil, a spokeswoman, confirmed that this information will remain confidential.

The clinic will probably release more details about the operation today, when it plans to do a briefing. It seems like this procedure has been far more extensive than the three previous face transplants, which were performed in France and China. The first partial face transplant was performed in France three years ago, on a woman that had been mauled by her dog, and the critics questioned whether it was ethical. The other two transplants were performed on a European man who was disfigured by a genetic condition and in China, where a farmer had been attacked by a bear.

Why are these transplants so controversial? Firstly, because they are aimed at improving a patient's quality of life rather than saving it. Furthermore, recipients must take powerful immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of their lives in order for their body to not reject the transplant. A recipient's psychological state is very important, and that's because of the unique nature of a person's face. Even so, the first woman who got the transplant, Isabelle Dinoire, is alive and well, as she regained normal skin sensation and control of her facial muscles. However, some experts criticize the procedure, but several other U.S. hospitals are considering similar operations, so this transplant might become an ordinary job in a few years.