When was the first face transplant involving a human?

In November 2005. Surgeons in Amiens, France, performed the first partial face transplant for Isabelle Dinoire, 38. Her nose, lips, chin and parts of her cheeks had been removed after she was bitten by her dog in May that year. The operation involved transplanting facial material from a dead 46-year-woman. A report by the surgical team on Dinoire's progress 18 months later suggested she was "very satisfied".

When was the first in the United States?

In December 2008 at the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio. In a 22-hour operation, Connie Culp had most of her face replaced five years after her husband turned a shotgun on her, shattering her nose, cheeks, the roof of her mouth and an eye. In May 2009 she revealed how she could talk, smile, smell and taste her food again. It was the most elaborate operation so far – and the fourth in all.

Where and when was the first full facial transplant?

In Barcelona, Spain, in March 2010. A Spanish farmer, known as Oscar, who was unable to breathe or eat on his own after accidentally shooting himself five years before, underwent a 24-hour operation. Doctors lifted an entire face, including jaw, nose, cheekbones, muscles, teeth and eyelids, from a donor and placed it mask-like on Oscar.

And in the US?

Dallas Wiens, who had been left blind, without lips, nose or cheeks after being burnt by a high-voltage wire while painting a church in 2008, had his transplant at Brigham and Women's hospital, Boston, in March 2011. His sight could not be restored.

What about in the UK?

None yet. Peter Butler, a leading proponent of such surgery, was given the go-ahead for the first in Britain in 2006, and has assessed patients for combined face and hand transplants.

What problems face potential patients?

Despite huge advances by surgeons in facial reconstruction, many hurdles must be overcome. Apart from finding the right surgical match from deceased donors and the difficulties in returning full form and function to new faces, patients face taking immuno-suppressant drugs for the rest of their lives. These increase the risk of infection and cancer and generally weaken muscles and bones. China's first transplant patient died in 2008, two years after the operation apparently having given up his immuno-suppressant drugs and turning to herbal medicine instead.