The world’s first face transplant recipient has died, 11 years after the pioneering surgery.
Frenchwoman Isabelle Dinoire had reportedly suffered from two types of cancer following years of taking anti-rejection medication.
Doctors at Amiens University Hospital have only just confirmed that she died in April following a “long illness”.
They said her death had initially been kept quiet to protect her family’s privacy.
Ms Dinoire was left severely disfigured after being attacked by her pet Labrador in May 2005.
She received a graft including a new nose, chin and lips in a groundbreaking operation carried out by doctors Bernard Devauchelle and Jean-Michel Dubernard later that year.
French newspaper Le Figaro reported that Dinoire’s body had started to reject the transplant last year, and that she had “lost part of the use of her lips”.
The drugs she had to take to prevent rejection left her susceptible to cancer, the newspaper said.
Ms Dinoire had previously spoken about how the transplant had changed her life.
