17-year-old Girl Has New Face Grown on Her Breast

Xu Jianmei, 17, was injured in a fire when she was 5-years-old which left her was left horrifically disfigured.

A team of Chinese surgeons have given the teenage girl a new face after growing it on her breast. She had surgery in the city of Fuzhou, in Fujian province, in the southeast of the country this week.

She woke up after the operation to find that she once again had a chin, eyelids and an ear.

Ms Xu’s parents were unable to afford to pay for her to have plastic surgery but she was given hope when doctors offered to carry out the pioneering operation for free.

It meant the girl from a small fishing village could receive the face transplant which was carried out using tissue from her chest.

The transplant team implanted a blood vessel from her leg into her chest and then used a water-filled balloon to expand her skin to create enough to make her new face.

She said the best thing is that she can now smile properly for the first time in 12 years. 

Xu Jianmei pictured before the surgery

Xu Jianmei pictured after the surgery