BERLIN - A Chinese teenager whose face was scorched beyond recognition as she lay unconscious on a heater has had it rebuilt by German surgeons.
In December 2001, Xiao Liewen collapsed face down on to the heater while showering, burning a hole in her skull. By the time her father
found her half an hour later, she was almost dead.
Chinese doctors saved the girl's life, but she was left with no nose and only one eye, as well as open wounds on her face.
Surgeons at the Klinikum Rechts der Isar at Munich's Technical University have been painstakingly rebuilding Xiao's face since 2003.
They gave Xiao a new nose using tissue from her stomach and closed the open sections.
Further operations will lend greater symmetry to her face.
The clinic revealed details of its efforts this week for the first time to coincide with a German television documentary on Xiao.
- REUTERS
