It’s true! French physicians have just completed the world’s first face transplant. The recipient, an unidentified French woman, got new lips, chin, and nose after the originals were chewed off by a dog. The donor was brain dead.

Curiously, a Google news search for “face transplant” produced this Seattle P-I headline: Face transplant should be pleasant looking. Clicking on the link took me to a story entitled Ethics panel objected to face transplant. Turns out, the doctors did not attempt normal reconstructive surgery before attempting the face transplant—but who would when presented (or should I say faced?) with the opportunity to perform the world’s first face transplant?