Face transplant patients go public

They savour pizza and burgers, no longer frighten children, and many of them can walk the streets without people knowing they have someone else's cheeks, nose, lips and skin. People who have had face transplants increasingly are going public, helping to transform an operation that six years ago was daredevil theory into one that is widely accepted. At least 18 face transplants have been done around the world, starting with a French woman mauled by her dog in 2005, said Dr Maria Siemionow, at Cleveland Clinic. She did the first face transplant in the US in December 2008. On Thursday, the Boston hospital released a photo taken last month of Charla Nash, a Connecticut woman mauled by a chimpanzee. She had a face transplant in May. "I will now be able to do things I once took for granted," Nash said in a statement. "I will be able to smell. I will be able to eat normally. I will no longer be disfigured. "I will have lips and will speak clearly once again. I will be able to kiss and hug loved ones. I am tremendously grateful to the donor and her family."