Their severely disfigured patient had 80 percent of her face replaced during a 22-hour surgery at Cleveland Clinic.
Only the woman's upper-eyelids, forehead, lower lip, and chin were left.
"I must tell you how happy she was when, with both her hands, she could go over her face and feel that she has a nose, she has a jaw, and she has a full face in front of her," said lead surgeon Dr. Maria Siemionow.
Doctors say so far, the woman has shown no signs of rejecting her new face. They did not give details on how she was injured.
There have been three other face transplants done overseas but none as extensive as this one.
