Connie Culp, the nation's first face transplant recipient, lost the middle of her face in the fall of 2004 when her husband shot her and then turned the gun on himself.

He survived with minor injuries and is serving a seven year sentence in prison. Connie Culp, 40 at the time, lost her nose, one eye, her upper jaw and upper lip, palate and lower eyelids. She couldn't eat solid food, drink from a cup, smell or taste. She could only breathe through a hole cut into her throat.

After nearly 30 surgeries at the Cleveland Clinic failed to help her, she became only the fourth person in the world to receive a face transplant.

On Tuesday she showed the world her new face.

The Dec. 9 operation, considered the most complex face transplant to date, lasted nearly 23 hours. After doctors removed scar tissue, bone grafts, and metal from her previous surgeries, Culp received 80 percent of the face and underlying tissue of an organ donor.

Culp was released from the Clinic on Feb. 5th. Her name, age, and type of injury had been withheld to protect her privacy.

She spoke to the media briefly for the first time Tuesday at a news conference held at the Intercontinental Hotel on the Clinic campus.

Culp, who had been taunted and called names because of her appearance, asked that everyone think twice about judging people who look differently.

"When somebody has a disfigurement or doesn't look as pretty as you, don't judge them," she said. "You never know what happened to them and you never know what might happen to you . . . . it might all be taken away."

Culp has remained in the Cleveland area since her release from the hospital in order to receive follow-up treatment and has "progressed tremendously," said Dr. Maria Siemionow, Culp's surgeon and pioneer of the face transplant technique at the Clinic.

Like any transplant patient, she will need to have monthly doctor visits for the next year and will be closely monitored for any signs that her body is rejecting the foreign tissue.

Unlike many kidney, liver, or heart transplant patients who are critically ill by the time they need a transplant, Culp went into the transplant healthy.

"Her chance of getting a very good outcome with minimal side effects is very high," Siemionow said.

She is due for more surgeries in the future, though.

Surgeons transplanted extra facial tissue in the operation because they thought that some of the tissue might be rejected. It is all healthy, so Culp will need a few minor tuck procedures in four to five months to remove some of the excess donor skin, Papay said.

Time will also allow facial nerves to regenerate in Culp's face, which will restore movement to the muscles of the donor tissue, allowing her to smile and show emotion.

Culp has been weaned off several anti-rejection drugs and is only taking one such medication now, said Dr. Frank Papay, chairman of the dermatology and plastic surgery institute.

She had one mild episode of rejection 47 days after the surgery that doctors found in a routine biopsy. It was treated with a course of steroids, and there have been no problems since.

Facial transplantation has been controversial because some doctors and ethicists believe that the risks of immune rejection and other complications were unknown.

Dr. Eric Kodish, chairman of the department of bioethics at the Clinic, said that the progress Culp has made in recovering function is important evidence of the ethical justification of the surgery.

"This is not cosmetic surgery in any sense of the word," he said.

Siemionow said the team is evaluating many potential candidates for future transplantation but the team is focused on Culp's recovery and it will be several months before they consider another surgery.

The surgeon, who has spent 20 years researching transplantation of body parts and received approval to move ahead with a face transplant in 2004, said that Culp's outcome is overwhelming.

"This is all about functional outcome," she said. "If you can breathe through your nose in the spring in Cleveland, isn't that amazing?"

News researcher Tonya Sams contributed to this report.