transplantation", or the use of tissue from the patient herself. In addition, it will require four to six months before it is known if she will recover all the feeling in the transplanted skin, Devauchelle said. Dubernard told the Paris-based International Herald Tribune that the patient was moved on Tuesday from Amiens, where the surgery was performed, to the Edouard Herriot Hospital in Lyon, where he works, for long-term monitoring of the immunosuppressive therapy she requires to prevent tissue rejection. The transplant was considered necessary after the woman was so badly disfigured by her own dog in May that reconstructive surgery was judged useless. The woman's 17-year-old daughter was quoted as saying Thursday that the mauling occurred after her mother attempted to kill herself by swallowing sleeping pills, and that the dog was actually trying to revive her. The animal was subsequently destroyed despite protests by the family. Her daughter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that her mother had gradually accepted her disfigurement, but found it difficult to deal with the incomprehension of people in the street. To hide the injuries, she would leave her house wearing a surgeon's mask. "People did not know what was wrong with her and sometimes asked idiotic questions, such as if she had bird flu," the daughter said. --SP 2236 Local Time 1936 GMT
