Chinese girl grows new face on breast after burning accident

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The girl from a small fishing village in China was horrifically disfigured from a fire when she was just five years old.

Now, after 12 years, she can smile properly for the first time.

Jianmei's facial reconstruction was the result of a pioneering technology where doctors transplanted a blood vessel from her leg into her chest and then inserted a water-filled balloon to stretch the skin of her chest. This skin provided the graft for her new face.

The surgery, which took place in the city of Fuzhou, in Fujian province, was carried out for free as Jianmei’s parents were unable to afford it.

“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,” surgeon Jiang Chenhong told The Daily Mail.

“First we took a piece of blood vessel fascia from her thigh and implanted it in her chest. Then we inserted a skin expander beneath the part of the skin where the blood vessel fascia was planted, so that the part could expand and produce enough skin for her new face,” he added.

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