Yang Huimin, a 28-year-old man from Central China's Henan Province, had what
he thought was a pimple on face when he was 4.
Mother tend on Yang Huilin, called the
"lion-faced man," (R) at the Beijing-based No 304 Hospital of the Chinese
People's Liberation Army on March 10, 2006. Yang was operated on yesterday
and doing well so far, chief surgeon Li Anmin said. Another operation will
be scheduled as Yang's physical condition warrants. A small pimple
acquired at four grew covering the entire left side of his face during the
next 24 years. The man is 28-year-old.
[sina] |
But during the next 24
years, the small swelling grew bigger and bigger, eventually covering the entire
left side of his face.
A 19-hour operation on Yang's abnormal skull ended successfully yesterday at
the Beijing-based No 304 Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, chief
surgeon Li Anmin told China Daily yesterday.
Yang was in stable condition, Li said, and his intelligence will not be
affected, but he was unable to talk and eat yesterday because of an incision
into his trachea. Li said, though, that he should recover both his voice and his
appetite by Saturday.
"Although Yang's head still looks a little different from normal ones, his
skull was repaired to normal after a proliferation weighing 1 kilogramme was
removed," Li said.
This is only the first step to help the young man with a face similar to a
lion, hospital sources said.
Yang will undergo a procedure to bring his face to a uniform colour.
Previously the abnormality on face was red.
The second operation will be scheduled as Yang's physical condition warrants,
the hospital sources said.
Three groups of physicians and nurses in cranial nerve and plastic surgery
participated.
Besides the bone, fat weighing nearly 2 kilograms was also cut from Yang's
head.
Yang, who went to Beijing from Henan in February for treatment, said his
biggest wish after the operations is to find a wife. He had seldom stepped
outside his home during the past 20 years.
Yang's parents and sister accompanied him to Beijing.
The nearly 200,000 yuan (US$25,000) required for the operations has been
raised from donations, hospital sources said.
(China Daily 04/06/2006 page3)