Do you recall an earlier news story entitled “Crash Victim Follows Doctor’s Orders and Grows Nose on Forehead”? Just like that story, this story also takes place in Putian, Fujian where a seventeen year-old girl has been growing what will become her new face upon her own shoulder. The girl had her face damaged during a fire, and is currently awaiting surgery to have this new face transplanted.

This teenager is named Xu Jianmei and comes from a small fishing village near Putian, Fujian. At the age of five, she accompanied her father and mother to work; when she was put in a temporary grass shed to wait for her parents, she became trapped when a fire unexpectedly broke out. Although her life was spared, the intense flames left her face completely disfigured…

Eleven years later and with the help of lawyers and many other concerned residents of the village, little Mei has finally gotten a chance to recover from this accident. A diagnosis made in cooperation with the hospital has determined that Mei has received burns to 95% of the overall area belonging to her face and hands. Using traditional techniques for skin transplants, it was not possible to recover the original appearance of the face nor for sensory organs to regain their functions; this is why it was necessary to perform facial transplant plastic surgery.

To perform this feat, doctors courageously suggested a procedure to “switch faces”, an operation that requires three stages. The first stage is to “grow” the area to be transplanted upon her shoulder; next, the blood vessels connected to the “new face” are cut; finally, the third stage is to “switch faces” and transplant the “new face” into place while at the same time reconstructing the three dimensions of the face and its sensory organs.

Little Mei started to “grow” the “new face” last November and so approximately a year later, her “new face” is now fully grown. In about a week’s time, the operation to transplant her face is scheduled to take place. After having the operation, Xiao Mei will be able to perform different expressions due to muscles contracting in her epidermis.

At present, any more details cannot be specified until after the operation takes place.

Source: Sina

Warning：The use of any news and articles published on eChinacities.com without written permission from eChinacities.com constitutes copyright infringement, and legal action can be taken.

Keywords: Fujian girl face transplant Fujian