French doctors have performed another partial face transplant, the third time a procedure of this type has been carried out, dpa quoted the physician heading the surgical team as saying today. Dr. Laurent Lantieri, of the Henri-Mondor Hospital of Creteil, outside Paris, said the 15-hour operation was performed Sunday on a 27-year-old man who was suffering from Van Recklinghausen's disease, an incurable congenital illness that deforms the face, as with the lead character of the film The Elephant Man. The daily Le Parisien reported Tuesday that the patient had undergone a transplant of his nose, mouth and chin as well as parts of his cheeks. "He is doing well," Lantieri said.
