French woman who received world's first face transplant dies

Paris, Sep 7 

sabelle Dinoire, the French woman who underwent the first partial face transplant in the world, died aged 49, the University Hospital of Amiens said on Tuesday.

Dinoire, who had the transplant surgery in 2005, died on April 22 in 2015, but it was only revealed on Tuesday, EFE news reported.

The woman died following a long illness, said the hospital in a statement, confirming the news revealed by newspaper Le Figaro.

The hospital added that it did not report the news before to preserve the privacy of the family.

Dinoire suffered last winter a new episode of rejection of the transplanted area and lost the use of a part of her lips, the paper said in its online edition.