A Spanish hospital claims it has performed the 'world 's most complex ' face transplant , allowing a man terribly disfigured by a disease to lead a normal life . Doctors said the 27-hour procedure – to reconstruct the man 's entire lower face and neck – is the most difficult surgery they have carried out to date . A spokesperson for the Vall d'Hebron hospital in Barcelona , where the surgery was performed , said a team of 45 doctors , surgeons , nurses and anaesthesiologists took part in the operation in February . Scroll down for video . The 45-year-old man , who did not want to be identified , underwent the 'world 's most complex ' face transplant to reconstruct his neck , mouth , tongue and throat . The X-rays show the man before and after the surgery . Other specialists from the hospital 's plastic surgery and liver transplant departments were also brought in to advise on the procedure , details of which have only just been released . The patient , a 45-year-old man , did not want to be identified . Unlike similar operations , where a patient has had features of their face replaced , or rebuilt , the latest procedure was much more invasive . The man had suffered a condition called arteriovenous malformation for the past 20 years . This is a tangle of blood vessels in the brain which diverts blood from the arteries to the veins , bypassing normal brain tissue . In this man 's case , it caused facial deformities and problems with his vision and speech . As a result , most of the man 's face lower face was been reconstructed , including his neck , mouth , tongue and the back of his throat . And all the skin and muscles of his face , nose , lips , jaw , all teeth , palate and cheek bones were transplanted by using plastic surgery techniques and microsurgery . There was , however , a risk of severe bleeding that put his life in danger . The man had been examined in several other hospitals , including the Mayo Clinic and Harvard Medical School , which had considered him to be inoperable . Doctors at the Vall d'Hebron hospital in Barcelona , who carried out the procedure , say it was the world 's most complex to date . The operation took a team of 45 medical staff 27 hours to complete . But the Vall d'Hebron hospital ruled surgery was his only treatment option - and this week reveled the good news that the man is now living a normal life . The hospital released a statement saying : 'This is the first time that a transplant of this complexity has been performed in the world . ' 'The patient evolution after the surgery was successful , similar to any transplant patient at the hospital . 'Now he is already at home and only comes to the hospital for routine check-ups . ' In 2010 the same hospital carried out the world 's first full face transplant on a man who suffered an accident leaving him without a nose and with a deformed jaw and cheekbones . The first ever partial facial transplant was carried out by doctors in France in 2005 , on a woman who had been mauled by her dog .
Vall d'Hebron hospital in Barcelona claims it has carried out a world-first . Reconstructed a man's lower face and neck in a 27-hour-long operation . He had facial deformities , speech and vision problems and risk of bleeding . Score: 6