A 22-year-old Chinese man needed a new nose after losing his original in a traffic accident. Instead of a traditional transplant, surgeons grew a replacement nose on his forehead using cartilage from his ribs.
Surgeons Grew a New Nose on a Man's Forehead
In 2013, a 22-year-old man named Xiaolian from Fuzhou, China, became the unlikely face of cutting-edge reconstructive surgery. After losing his nose in a traffic accident—and a subsequent infection that destroyed what remained—doctors presented him with an unusual solution: they would grow him a new one. On his forehead.
Why the Forehead?
It sounds like something from a sci-fi horror film, but forehead tissue expansion is actually a well-established technique in reconstructive surgery. The forehead provides an ideal growing environment because it has excellent blood supply and the skin closely matches facial skin in color and texture.
Surgeons placed a skin tissue expander in Xiaolian's forehead, then used cartilage harvested from his ribs to create the nose's structural framework. Over nine months, the nose grew and developed, looking increasingly like a normal nose—just in a very abnormal location.
The Science Behind the Strange
This technique, called prefabrication, allows surgeons to essentially build body parts piece by piece. Here's how it works:
- Cartilage is harvested from the patient's own ribs
- A skin expander stretches the forehead tissue
- The cartilage framework is implanted under the expanded skin
- Blood vessels grow into the new structure over months
- Once mature, the nose is transplanted to its proper location
The key advantage? Using the patient's own tissue virtually eliminates rejection risk.
Not the First Forehead Nose
While Xiaolian's case grabbed international headlines, the technique itself dates back centuries. The Indian forehead flap method was described in ancient Sanskrit texts around 600 BCE. Indian physicians would cut a leaf-shaped flap from the forehead, twist it down to form a nose, and let it heal in place—all without modern anesthesia or antibiotics.
The modern version is considerably more sophisticated, but the basic principle remains: the forehead is nose-growing real estate.
The Aftermath
Xiaolian's surgery was deemed a success. The nose was eventually transplanted to its rightful position on his face, where it continues to function normally. He can breathe through it, and while there's some visible scarring, the cosmetic result far exceeded what traditional reconstructive methods could have achieved.
For the medical community, cases like his demonstrate the remarkable possibilities of regenerative surgery. For everyone else, it's a reminder that modern medicine can do things that would have seemed like witchcraft just a few generations ago—even if they still look pretty strange in the process.