In Aug. 2012, Xiaolian, 22, had his life changed dramatically. After a car accident left his nose infected and damaged, there was no hope of him ever looking the same again — that is until doctors in the Fuzhou, Fujian province of China decided to sculpt a new nose for him.
The procedure is called flap prefabrication, which is a newer technique in reconstructive plastic surgery. Surgeons are using the skin and cartilage from Xiaolian ribs and are moving the cartilage up to his forehead while waiting for the blood supply to grow in. After they take both the skin and cartilage from his forehead to do the nasal reconstruction.
Ultimately, they decided that his forehead would be the best location. Now, the young man has an almost full-grown nose on his head, as doctors wait for the process to be complete. Afterward, they will perform the nose transplant.
“Surgeons say that the nose has developed well
