Photo:Doctors Grow Girl New Face on Her Breast In China

A teenage girl left badly disfigured from a fire has had a new face grown on her breast.

Xu Jianmei, 17, woke up following an operation in the Chinese city of Fuzhou to find she once again had a chin, eyelids and an ear.


MIRACLE: The amazing procedure has given Xu Jianmei the ability to smile once again
However the girl said the best moment came when she realised she could smile properly for the first time in over a decade after being seriously burned when she was just five.
The amazing procedure follows a similar operation which took place last month when a group of doctors were able to give a car crash victim a new nose by first growing it on his forehead.

BEFORE: These graphic images show the dramatic transformation the operation has had.

PROCESS: The entire process took months to complete

SMILE: The teen has spoken of her delight at being able to smile again
Doctors offered to perform the pioneering operation on the girl free of charge.
The surgical team built her a new face using a blood vessel from her leg and ballon to expand her skin.
It took months for the new face to grow to the right size to cover her missing features.

SAME: The operation is similar to the one used to grow a nose on a Chinese man's forehead last month.

NOSE: Xialoian had a nose grown on his forehead after a car accident
"With her new face she will be able to express herself in a more precise way. She will even be able to blush when her emotions change, but it will take a long time," her surgeon, Jiang Chenhong, said.
Video footage shows Xu lying in hospital, barely conscious and severely swollen but with new smoother flesh covering the ridged scars of her "old" face.


DAILY STAR