Who was the first person to receive a successful human face transplant?

Isabelle Dinoire was the first person to receive a successful human face transplant.

French surgeons performed the partial face transplant in November 2005 at Amiens University Hospital. Dinoire had suffered severe facial injuries from a dog attack. The transplant replaced parts of her nose, lips, and chin using tissue from a deceased donor.

The operation required complex reconstruction and lifelong immunosuppressive treatment to reduce the risk of rejection. It demonstrated that transplanted facial tissue could restore both appearance and important functions such as eating and speaking.

Dinoire’s procedure was a partial face transplant, not a complete replacement of every facial structure. Later patients received more extensive transplants. Connie Culp, who underwent surgery in the United States in 2008, is sometimes incorrectly identified as the first recipient because her case was widely reported.