Xiaolian, 22, has made headlines around the world after doctor’s reconstructed a new nose on his forehead using the skin from his forehead.
After the Chinese man’s nose was permanently damaged from infection that occurred after an automobile accident, surgeons in China decided to “grow” a second nose on the man’s forehead to replace the original nose.
Despite the bizarre appearance surgeons and doctors are claiming that it is a rather common nose reconstruction technique. The process took a period of weeks with one more major surgery to put the nose in place once it’s completely done healing.
The practice of using flaps of tissue from both the forehead and cheek to reconstruct a severed nose was begun in ancient India, where facial disfigurement served as a form of punishment, according to Dr. Robert X. Murphy, president elect of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
A plastic surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital and Manhattan, Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital in New York, Dr. David Cangello, said the procedure is no different from plastic surgery techniques used all the time. “I would call it a different take on a principles that we commonly use in reconstruction,” Cangello said.
The man’s doctors placed tissue expanders, which create space to stretch the skin, under the man’s forehead, and created the rough shape of a nose, probably using screws and plates. They then harvested cartilage from his ribs to fill in the nose. Once the nose is ready, they will rotate it — skin, blood vessels, cartilage and all — and move the new nose to its rightful place.
Check out photos of the man’s new nose here.
