WORLD
Burned Fujian girl grows new face for transplant
Baku, October 26 (AZERTAC). The nose growing from the forehead of a man from Fujian last month is now being overshadowed by a new medical trial: a 17-year-old girl's transplant of her entire face, reports local press in the southeastern China province.
Xu Jianmei from the city of Putian sustained permanent disfigurement to most of her face when she was caught in a fire as a 5-year-old. Her family has not been able to afford the high medical expenses for surgery.
Eleven years later, with assistance from a lawyer and charity foundations, Xu finally had a chance to treat the scars of her childhood but the passage of time made traditional plastic surgery impossible.
Doctors at Fujian Medical University Union Hospital decided Xu should have a totally new face through a donor transplant. A transplant will only work, however, if the body does not recognize the skin as a pathogen. The surgery has been tried unsuccessfully in France, the US and China, but the Fujian doctors decided to first "raise" the new face on Xu`s body for a period of time to test her body's acclimation.
Xu has been growing the face between her shoulder and chest since last November. The foreign flesh, along with a section cut from the right thigh to connect facial blood vessels with the surrounding tissue, was stitched over a bag of water. To “grow” the face, the bag is gradually filled, forcing the skin to stretch and form over it. The last phase involves molding the shape and restructuring the organs.
Xu has worn her new look well and the transplant is expected to take place next week. Xu looks forward to having a new face and leading a new life. This will also turn a new page in medical technology in China and perhaps the world.