The doctor that led the surgical team which recently performed the first face transplant in the U.S. revealed details abut the reconstructive procedure at a press conference on Wednesday.

The patient suffered severe trauma and had lost much of her nose, her cheekbones, the lower eyelids and the upper lip. Besides, a large part of the skin and bone components was missing. Therefore, surgeons had to replace no less than 80 percent of her face, transplanting bone, muscle, teeth and facial nerve.

The woman hasn’t seen yet her new face, but she touched it and felt very happy, said Dr. Maria Siemionow, head of plastic surgery at the famed Cleveland Clinic, wehere the 22-hour operation was performed.

This is not the first face transplant worldwide. In 2005, French surgeons reconstructed the face of a woman who was mutilated by her dog. One year later, a 30-year-old Chinese attacked by a bear experienced the same procedure and in 2007 French doctors performed a face transplant on a 29-year-old man who was diagnosed with von Recklinghausen disease.

"A person who has sustained trauma or other devastation to the face is generally isolated and suffers tremendously," said bioethicist Eric Kodish. "We have hope that our patient will begin to smile again, will be able to smell again" and taste properly.

The woman, whose name and age were not made public, will have to take immune-suppressing drugs. She is expected to spend several more weeks in the hospital and may have to overcome episodes of rejection.