The woman suffered a tissue-rejection episode last month but is now doing well, her doctors said. However, they said she has resumed smoking, which besides being bad in general for health is especially a problem after surgery because it impairs circulation to tissues and could raise the risk of rejection.

It is a problem, Dr. Jean-Michel Dubernard, who led the team that performed the pioneering transplant in France on Nov. 27, acknowledged Wednesday.

The woman's French surgeons made their first scientific presentation on the partial face transplant at a medical conference this week.

The news about her smoking came even as American surgeons said that they were growing more comfortable with the French doctors' decision to try the operation and that they hoped to offer such transplants to more patients.

Risk of Rejection

The 38-year-old Frenchwoman received a new nose, chin and lips from a brain-dead donor after being mauled by her dog last spring. The woman has been identified only as Isabelle because of French privacy laws.

The woman suffered a tissue-rejection episode last month but is now doing well, her doctors said. However, they said she has resumed smoking, which besides being bad in general for health is especially a problem after surgery because it impairs circulation to tissues and could raise the risk of rejection.

Some doctors have questioned the woman's psychological fitness for the operation because of reports that she had taken sleeping pills in a possible suicide attempt when the dog attack occurred an allegation Dubernard repeatedly has denied.

He said she received extensive psychiatric evaluation and counseling before the operation.

Could Benefit Millions

Some American doctors at the conference said it is time to stop debating whether the French operation was ethical or wise and focus on making such transplants as safe and widely available as possible.

Face transplants can be done and should be done, said Dr. Warren Breidenbach, the surgeon who did the first hand transplant in the United States, at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, in 1999.

Another Louisville transplant expert, Dr. Suzanne Ildstad, said: A number of us here are interested in making this a widespread procedure available to the public. Its the future, and could benefit millions of people.