A Team of surgeons spent nearly eight hours Monday removing more
than 20 tumors from the face of a 22-year-old man from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
The doctors from Shanghai No. 9 People's Hospital said this
should be the last round of surgery needed for Ou Guifeng, who was
previously known as the "elephant man" in his hometown due to his
massive facial tumors.
Seven doctors took part in the surgery, which started at 8:30 AM
and ran well into the afternoon. They took turns cutting massive
neural fiber tumors off Ou's forehead, cheeks, nose and jaw.
"It was a success," said chief surgeon Li Qingfeng, adding that
the biggest challenge for the doctors was to prevent massive
hemorrhaging and avoid hurting any of the neural networks inside
the tumors.
Ou developed a small bulge in the left side of his cheek at the
age of two. As the size and number of tumors on his face increased,
he was left nearly blind in his right eye.
Doctors said that the massive tumors were caused by a genetic
disease and could only be treated with surgery.
Last May, Chinese-American painter Gao Jianwu heard about Ou's
miserable life during a trip to Guangxi. He raised money from
overseas Chinese to pay for Ou's medical treatment.
Ou first underwent surgery at the People's Hospital of Guilin in
Guangxi on June 29. That operation had to be halted, however, due
to massive hemorrhaging.
Shanghai No. 9 People's Hospital prepared 4,000 milliliters of
blood for yesterday's surgery to avoid similar problems. They only
used about 1,000 milliliters.
Doctors said they were able to lift Ou's right eye into the
proper position without damaging his optic nerve, so they are
optimistic he will regain his eyesight.
(Shanghai Daily December 12, 2006))