Doctors Grow Nose on Man's Forehead•••

After a Chinese man's nose was irreparably
damaged from infection, his doctors decided
to "grow" a second nose on the man's
forehead to replace the original nose.
The patient, identified only as Xiaolian
according to Reuters, has his nose damaged
from an infection following a car accident. His
doctors decided the only way to reconstruct
his nose was to surgically form a new one on
the 22-year-old's forehead.
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Tissue expanders were placed under the skin
and then cut to resemble a nose. According to
local media, doctors expect to implant the
new nose soon.
Dr. Patrick Byrne, the director of Facial, Plastic
and Reconstruction Surgery at Johns Hopkins
Medical Center, said forehead skin is used to
help reform noses because it is the closest
match to skin on the nose. However, usually
the nose is reformed during surgery instead of
on a patient's forehead.
"My guess would be that they felt that the
tissue in the nose was so damaged they had
to use the forehead skin on the interior part of
the nose," said Byrne. "It'll be a real nose and
[have a] breathing passage way."
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When the nose is transplanted, cartilage from
Xiaolian's rib will be used to give the nose
added structure.
Byrne said Xiaolian's new nose will be most
vulnerable during the 18 months after his
transplant.
"There's a lot that can happen," said Byrne. "If
he gets a little infection the cartilage can
disintegrate… [what looked like a nose] now
looks like a blob."
However Byrne said as long as Xiaolian is able
to avoid complications, his new nose should
work nearly as well as his original nose.
"He should be able to smell, the smell
receptors are pretty high in the nose," said
Bryne.
In the future Byrne imagines that doctors will
be able to grow entire ears and noses in the
lab before transplant.
"[We could] take a skin sample and some cells
from the patient's DNA and cartilage and use
those cells to grow entire structure prior to
reimplantation," said Byrne.
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