Woman who had world's first face transplant dies aged 49

A woman who received the world's first partial face transplant over a decade ago has died.

Isabelle Dinoire, 49, underwent pioneering surgery after her pet Labrador left her severely disfigured.

During the dog attack in 2005, Dinoire had her nose, chin and lips mauled.

But doctors in France gave Dinoire a new face using pioneering surgery, where the face of a brain-dead female donor was used to complete the operation.

Its success then set the stage for dozens of other transplants worldwide.

The Amiens University Hospital in northern France announced Dinoire's death on Tuesday. She died in April following a long illness, the university said.

According to the Daily Mirror, Dinoire was battling two forms of cancer at the time at the time of her death.

Since her surgery, Dinoire had taken powerful immunosuppressant drugs designed to prevent her body rejecting new tissues, the paper reported.

But these always threatened to make her seriously ill.