No nose, no palate, no way to eat...

Her injuries were ghastly: no nose, no palate, no way to eat or breathe on her own, a face so hideous that children who saw her screamed and ran away.

From the moment they met earlier this year, Doctor Maria Siemionow knew the severely disfigured woman would be the one - the first person in the US to receive a face transplant.

"Our patient was called names and was humiliated. You need a face to face the world," said Siemionow, the Cleveland Clinic reconstructive surgeon who led the operation about two weeks ago.