The second and final major operation of China's first face transplant patient ended up with success on Wednesday in Xijing Hospital in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, said the hospital.

The operation restored Li Guoxing's eye and lips of Li Guoxing, a 30-year old man disfigured in 2004 after a bear mauling, said Guo Shuzhong, director of the hospital's plastic surgery department. The operation also flattened the left side of Li's swollen face, said Guo.

Five doctors, three anesthetists and two nurses worked on the operation that lasted over 5 hours, beginning at 7:40 AM and ended at 1:00 PM. Doctors had difficulty in the operation to distinguish which part of Li's face had been transplanted in the first operation and which part was original, showing sound integration of Li's new and old faces, said Guo.

"Our goal is to make him unnoticeable walking on the street", Guo said, adding that this will be achieved after further observation.

Li's right eye was seriously injured and might never fully recover, said Guo.

He received a partial face transplant operation at the hospital on April 14, the second such operation in the world following the face transplant of 38-year-old Isabelle Dinoire in France last year. Li was given a new cheek, upper lip, nose and an eyebrow, all coming from a single donor.

(Xinhua News Agency November 2, 2006)