Dr. Bohdan Pomahac of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and his team were involved in a 17-hour surgery in which they replaced the man’s nose, palate, upper lip, and some skin, muscles and nerves with those of a dead donor. Neither the name of the donor, nor that of the man was made public. However, the donor's family members released a statement saying they hope the procedure convinces others to donate.

 

“The fact that we are able to give this gift was a tremendous comfort in our time of grief,” the statement read.

 

The Boston face transplant is the second in the nation. The first US transplant was done in December by doctors at Cleveland Clinic who replaced 80 percent of a woman's face with that of a female cadaver. The woman is doing remarkably well. “Her speech is improved so everyone can understand her now, and she has a great outlook on life. She's very comfortable with the way she looks now and she's very happy,” said Dr. Frank Papay, a surgeon who helped perform the transplant.

 

The first face transplant was performed in France in 2005 on a woman who had been mauled by her dog. Since then, other six interventions like this, including the Boston face transplant, have been performed on disfigured people.