Frenchwoman who got world’s 1st face transplant dies at 49

FILE - In this Feb. 6, 2006 file photo, Isabelle Dinoire, the woman who received the world's first partial face transplant with a new nose, chin and mouth, in an operation on Nov. 27, 2005, addresses reporters during her first press conference since the transplant at the Amiens hospital, northern France. The 38-year-old woman was mauled by a dog, leaving her with severe facial injuries that her doctors said made it difficult for her to speak and eat. Dinoire who received the world’s first partial face transplant has died, 11 years after surgery that set the stage for dozens of other transplants around the world. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler, FILE) FILE - In this Feb. 6, 2006 file photo, Isabelle Dinoire, the woman who received the world's first partial face transplant with a new nose, chin and mouth, in an operation on Nov. 27, 2005, addresses reporters during her first press conference since the transplant at the Amiens hospital, northern France. The 38-year-old woman was mauled by a dog, leaving her with severe facial injuries that her doctors said made it difficult for her to speak and eat. Dinoire who received the world’s first partial face transplant has died, 11 years after surgery that set the stage for dozens of other transplants around the world. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler, FILE)

By Associated Press September 6, 2016 3 min read

PARIS (AP) – Isabelle Dinoire, a Frenchwoman who received the world’s first partial face transplant, has died 11 years after the surgery that set the stage for dozens of other transplants worldwide. She was 49.

The Amiens University Hospital in northern France said in a statement Tuesday that Dinoire died in April after a long illness. The hospital didn’t release any further details and it wasn’t clear if her illness was related to the transplant.

Her family wanted her death kept private. But the hospital went public with the death after Le Figaro reported on it.

After being severely disfigured by her pet Labrador, Dinoire was given a new nose, chin and lips in a ground-breaking, 15-hour operation in 2005 led by doctors Bernard Devauchelle and Jean-Michel Dubernard in the Amiens hospital. When she first appeared in public with her new face four months later, her speech was slurred and a scar clearly visible – but the fact that she could speak to reporters of having a “face like everyone else” and almost smile was seen as a medical breakthrough.

The operation changed Dinoire’s life and drew international attention. There have been nearly 40 face transplant surgeries around the world since 2005, including one last year in New York that was the first to include a scalp and functioning eyelids.