Vall d'Hebron University Hospital is the leading hospital complex in Barcelona, Catalonia (one of 17 Spanish autonomous communities), and one of the largest in Spain.

The hospital is comprised of four large centers: the General Area, the Maternity and Children's Area, the Traumatology and Rehabilitation Area and the Outpatient Surgery Unit.

The patient, a young man who is a farmer, was involved in an gunshot accident five years ago in which his nose, lips, skin, palate, jaws, muscles, chin, cheekbones, teeth, and other facial features were lost.

The Vall d-Hebron Hospital team involved with the surgery consisted of 30 medical members.

Dr. Joan Pere Barret was the leader of the medical team at the hospital who performed the delicate surgery.

The full-facial transplant surgery, itself, took about 22 hours to perform. It was performed on March 20, 2010.

Page two concludes.

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Previous to this full face transplant in the Spanish Vall d'Hebron hospital, other hospitals in the United States, China, and Spain have performed partial face transplants.

In fact, the first successful face transplant was performed in France in 2005. Isabelle Dinoire was the recipient of the first face transplant. The 38-year-old woman had been mauled by her dog.

For additional information on the news story about the world's first full face transplant, please read the April 23, 2010 AdelaideNow article 'Vall d'Hebron Hospital claims world's first complete face transplant.'