Face of the future

Xu Jianmei rests in bed after surgery. Sun Li / China Daily

For the second phase, doctors injected water into the skin dilator twice a week and the dilator gradually became a bulging ball.

"The bigger the dilator was, the thinner the skin would be. The challenge was to protect the dilator from being broken," Jiang says.

Ke Haiying, Xu's mother, said that while monitoring the dilator, she could barely sleep at night.

"I was afraid that my girl would toss about in bed or scratch herself," Ke says.

The phase lasted for about nine months, and toward the end doctors also screened the blood vessels to ensure the tissue was viable.

On Oct 14, Xu underwent her final operation, which lasted for about 10 hours.

Guo Zhihui, director of the orthopedics department, says patients receiving the traditional face transplant, which involves a recipient and a deceased donor, always faced problems such as ethical issues and infections caused by the rejection.

"This Chinese-developed style of facial reconstruction has none of these concerns and it opens up a new window for people disfigured in an attack, a car crash, a fire or a tumor," Guo says, adding the surgery could be a milestone of the country's medical technology.

According to Guo, Xu still has mimetic muscles and subcutaneous tissue, so she will still be able to make facial expressions after healing.

Over the next several weeks, doctors will treat the wounds left by the surgery and make some embellishments, such as an eyebrow transplant, to make the new face as pleasing and natural-looking as possible, Guo says.

Xu is in a stable condition now and looking forward to leading a normal life.

"Finally, I can face the future," Xu says.

Related: Surgery brings back her smile