Related: 'Elephant man' to go under the knife

HONG KONG - Chinese surgeons said Tuesday they successfully operated on a man with a massive 33-pound tumor that hung down from his face, obscuring his features and warping his backbone.

In this photo released by Fuda Cancer Hospital, Chinese man Huang Chuncai is carried on a stretcher to undergo surgery to remove a 15-kilogram tumor from his face in Guangzhou, southern China, Tuesday, July 24, 2007. [AP]

More than 10 doctors and nurses took part in the surgery that removed the tumor, said Xu Kecheng, president of Fuda Cancer Hospital in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.

Huang Chuncai's facial tumor became noticeable when he was 4 years old, the hospital said. It grew bigger and more quickly as he grew older, blocking his left eye, pushing his left ear to shoulder level, knocking out his teeth and deforming his backbone.

Huang, 31, had trouble speaking, hearing and eating before the surgery.

Xu said the surgeons' biggest challenge was to avoid massive bleeding because there were large blood vessels in Huang's tumor. One the doctors who operated on Huang, Niu Lizhi, said the surgical team prevented bleeding by freezing the tumor.

Niu said Huang is being closely monitored and is expected to be discharged in a month.