Plastic surgeons have been growing an artificial ear for transplant on a patient's arm.
The man, identified only as Ji, was involved in a car accident where he lost his right ear a year ago. He has been receiving treatment from a reconstructive surgery expert, Guo Shuzhong of First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province.
Guo, a veteran doctor involved in the field of plastic surgery for more than three decades, along with his colleague, Shu Maoguo, came up with a reconstructive surgery plan to help their patient replace his lost ear using a portion of his rib cartilage.
The procedure involved burying a skin expander and regularly injecting water into the patient's right forearm. In order to form the structure of the ear, the doctors took a portion of the patient's rib cartilage and formed it inside the expanded skin.
The last phase of the operation, which is transplanting the grown ear onto the patient's head, will be undertaken in three or four months, according to Shu. The seemingly long wait is to allow the ear to fully develop.
The patient has already undergone several surgeries to restore his facial structure, which will be topped off by the ear transplant.
The breakthrough operation is not Dr. Guo's first outing of its kind. In 2006, he led a facial transplant surgery of a man whose face was disfigured due to a bear attack. The procedure became China's first ever successful facial transplant.