For many years, Jianmei had to live with horrifying scars caused by a fire but thanks to a new transplant technology, the 17-year old Chinese girl has undergone a face transplant after doctors ‘grew’ her new face on her chest.
Xu Jianmei was a victim in a tragic fire incident that left her severely disfigured when she was only five years old. For the first time after 12 years, she was able to smile again after the surgery was done.
Initially, Jianmeis parents could not afford the surgery needed but her luck changed when Chinese surgeons who are working on new transplant technology offered to perform the surgery for free.
“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,” said her surgeon, Jiang Chenhong.
“First, we took a piece of blood vessels fascia from her thigh and implanted it in her chest. Then we inserted a skin expander beneath the part of skin where the blood vessel fascia was planted, so that the part could expand and produce enough skin for her new face,” he added.
Doctors believe that the wounds left by the surgery on Xu will heal over the next couple of weeks.
