A Chinese man whose face was badly disfigured after an attack by a black bear two years ago received a partial face transplant Friday, in what a hospital statement described as a medical first for China, according to the Associated Press. A statement from Xijing Hospital, a military hospital in the central city of Xi'an, said that Li Guoxing was given a new cheek, upper lip, nose, and an eyebrow from a single donor. No details were given about the donor. «Up to now, the patient is in good condition,» the statement said. «The operation was successful. It is predicted that the wounds can be healed within one week.» Li's surgery began Thursday afternoon and was completed Friday morning, it said. Li was badly mauled after an encounter with a black bear in China's southern Yunnan province, the statement said. A woman who answered the main hospital number did not know about the surgery and referred calls to the Facial Reconstruction Department, where the phone rang unanswered. Last November, a French woman received the world's first partial face transplant when doctors in Amiens gave her new lips, a chin and nose.
