The woman given a second chance to life thanks to a face transplant undergone at the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, is now feeling fine and happy, according to her sayings at her first news conference since the surgery.

 

“I have a face like everyone else,” she said.

 

The transplant surgery was performed two weeks ago by a team of doctors led by Dr. Maria Siemionow, who had spent years preparing for such a surgery practising on animals and performing surgeries on 20 cadavers.

 

The surgery lasted for 23 hours, in which time, 80 percent of the patient’s face was replaced with facial tissue from a dead donor with permission from her family. The patient, whose identity was not revealed, responded well to the surgery and there were no signs of her body rejecting the tissue, according to the doctors. The procedure is the first in the country and the fourth in the entire world.

 

The patient is expected to eat, speak and breathe normally and even smell again, the doctors said. The woman must take special drugs that suppress her immune system so her body won’t reject the donor tissue.

 

Aside the great benefits of such a surgery, experts warn of possible psychological side effects associated with transplant surgery, which may include remorse, or problems of dealing with a new identity. It remains to be seen whether the patient will face such problems. For now, there are no reasons of concern related to her state.

 

Dr. Siemionow received the 2007 James Barrett Brown Award from the American Association of Plastic Surgeons for her research on facial transplant.