First U.S. face transplant performed

CLEVELAND, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- The Cleveland Clinic said a team of physicians has performed the first near-total face transplant ever done in the United States.

The surgical team met with the media Tuesday to discuss the procedure, performed on a patient who was disfigured in a traumatic injury, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. The newspaper said the Cleveland Clinic was the first U.S. hospital to approve the procedure four years ago.

The world's first partial face transplant was conducted in 2005 in France on a woman who was disfigured in a dog attack.

CNN said the surgery to replace 80 percent of a trauma patient's face was performed by an eight-member surgical team in Cleveland two weeks ago.