An 11-year-old girl who had sulphuric acid thrown at her by her aunt may become the first person in China to have a face transplant, Beijing Morning Post reported yesterday.

Liu Fangyuan's face was horrifically disfigured when the substance was poured over her face three years ago.

It flattened her nose, left her mouth askew, both eyes blinded and her whole face badly scarred.

The attack followed a dispute between her father and aunt over ownership of a house.

The girl, from the capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, never left her home until three months ago to start at a school for blind children.

Liu Yuanlin, her father, said it was the news that the General Hospital of Nanjing Military Commands was ready to carry out face transplants that made his daughter take her first steps outside since the attack and go to the school.

Hong Zhijian, director of the plastic surgery section at the hospital, said: "Liu is just one of the patients who might be chosen to have the operation. We have another four or five patients and until now we have not decided yet who is to be the first patient."

Hong emphasized that he and his colleagues still needed time to carry out checks on all the patients, most of whom are female and whose faces were burnt by sulphuric acid or fire.

"If there are some other patients in the future, we will also take them into consideration," he added.

He warned, however, that because Liu had received more than 10 plastic surgery operations, it might cause her difficulties in recovering from any facial transplant.

But he added it was only one issue, and that there were many factors in deciding whether the patient was suitable to have the operation.

Meanwhile, at the Plastic Surgery Hospital affiliated to China Academy of Medical Sciences in Beijing, a man has expressed his willingness to offer his face for transplants when he dies.

Yang Jinfu, 44, a farmer from north China's Shanxi Province, is currently in Beijing to accompany his hospitalized daughter.

"Without donations from the society, my daughter would have stopped medical treatment long ago," he said last week. "I just want to pay back."

His face will have to go through complex checks to see whether it suited those who needed it, according to Chen Huanran, a doctor at the hospital.

After the world's first successful partial face transplant in France last month, three experts in Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing announced that they had the ability to carry out such operations.

(China Daily December 28, 2005)