Doctors hoping to perform the world's first full face transplant in Britain may move a step closer to carrying out the procedure this week when ethics experts meet to decide whether to give the go-ahead.

The ethical committee of the Royal Free hospital in Hampstead, north London, is meeting on Wednesday to discuss whether to grant permission for the operation. Peter Butler, a consultant plastic surgeon at the Royal Free, has spent 14 years looking at the possibility of carrying out the procedure.

If approval is granted the process of identifying a suitable patient could begin.