The first surgical steps to rebuild the sunken face of an 18-year-old girl have been successful in this capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

The patient, Wang Na, from the province's Heyang County, has no zygomas, the part of the bone of the skull forming the prominence of the cheek. She also has no maxillas, a pair of bones in the skull which form the upper jaw.

This means her face is sunken from her forehead to mouth.

The first operation started on Monday morning and was completed a few hours later in the Oral Hospital under the Fourth Military Medical University.

"It was carried out smoothly and we will conduct more operations to rebuild the girl's face according to her physical condition," said Liu Yanpu, director of Maxillofacial Surgery at the hospital.

The first step to rebuilding the face was to make a basic framework with part of her own skull, Doctor Yang Tao said in charge of the patient.

"Then we will build zygomas, maxillas and teeth," Yang said.

"The whole process to repair and rebuild the face will last one year and cost around 200,000 yuan (US$25,000)."

According to Li Jingyun, the girl's mother, Wang Na was an abandoned baby near her village. The infant was adopted by Li and her husband Wang Youren. They are both poor farmers.

"Because of her abnormal face, Wang Na cannot speak clearly and only eats liquid food. Her deformed face means she is unwilling to go to school and meet people," Li said.

Despite their poverty, the girl's parents kept looking for hospitals to help her. They became hopeful when they visited the oral hospital in July.

Zhao Yimin, hospital president, decided to help with a free operation to give her a new face. Doctors and nurses also donated money to the family.

Because Wang Na's problem is rare, the hospital asked experts and professors from across the country for diagnoses and came up with a comprehensive operation plan.

"I know the treatment will last for one year, but I'm not afraid. The first thing I want to do after I get a new face is to go to school," Wang Na said with a smile before the operation began.

In April, the Xijing Hospital, another hospital under the Fourth Military Medical University, carried out a successful operation to transplant a partial face to Li Guoxing, a man whose face was disfigured after an attack by a black bear.

He received a new cheek, upper lip, nose and an eyebrow from a single dead donor.

He is now back home and is said to be doing well.

(China Daily September 6, 2006)