Sometimes Mother Nature hands out a raw deal to people and that’s when some have to suffer for that their whole lives. Take for example the humble birthmark. While some may be born with that cute mole or two, others may end up having huge marks right on their faces.
It’s ok to have a huge birthmark on your body but when you have one on your face, it’s another story altogether. One 23-year-old girl from China was born with a huge mole on her face but when it started hurting her, she was taken to doctors who diagnosed something horrifying. But more than that, she had four large balloons implanted into her face.
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Xiao Yan 23 was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called congenital melanocytic nevus. The condition is so rare that it affects just 1% of babies around the world. There are many who may be born with a big birthmark but when your entire face is covered by a giant mole, it’s a different story altogether.
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Xia Yan was made to get four large egg sized balloons implanted into the skin of her face to save her from the condition that could have given her cancer. The bizarre treatment was necessary to help her grow more tissue so that doctors can use that to graft onto her face after the birthmark is removed.
Xia Yan from Longjing Village in Guizhou China suffered from congenital melanocytic nevus that affects one in 500,000 people. The poor girl was required to live like that with her entire face blown out of proportion and stretched in four different directions just so she could have a new face.
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When Xiao was growing up, she knew that she would be different even as doctors worried about her condition. They assumed that it would ultimately turn into a cancerous tumor in future. Her parents were warned that if action wasn’t taken, it may ultimately be too late.
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Xiao’s treatment and surgery of the balloon implants took place at Shanghai Ninth People’s hospital in eastern China. The condition was so bizarre that it meant before she got better, she had to suffer and get worse. The procedure had to be done because Xiao’s mole started causing her discomfort and pain in March 2017.
Congenital melanocytic nevus can become cancerous but with varying conditions. Some have a 5-10% risk of becoming cancerous while others may be as low as 1-2%. Yan said she would not have minded living with the mole her entire life.
'Despite the big black mole on my face, I enjoyed my childhood playing with my friends,' Ms Yan said, adding: 'I was carefree. ‘But as I grew older, the fact that I was "different" became increasingly magnified,' she said
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Xiao’s mother mentioned how her daughter was the subject of ridicule in their village where she almost begged people not to make fun of her. Xiao was the talk of the village because of her disfigured face which was totally black on one side.
Doctors implanted the egg-sized balloons into her face stretching her face four opposite direction to grow more skin required to perform a facial graft once the mole was removed.
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In order to save Xiao’s life, doctor’s inserted egg-sized balloons into her face so that her skin can be stretched enough to successfully remove it. This is being done so that the area removed by the mole can be replaced with skin from elsewhere on her face.
Xiao’s parents are poor people but yet they managed to raise the huge sum of $15, 658 (a lot for them) to start the treatment. In October, Xiao underwent surgery to implant the expanders into her face. She also gets saline injected into her face twice a week.
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Xiao mentioned that there were times she would feel sorry for herself but she has the support of her family and that has always made her feel positive. “I used to feel sorry for myself,” she admitted, before adding, “But I’ve grown up under the support of my family and now I’m much more positive.”
She has been given the name of the “gourd doll” due to the weird shape of the balloons that resemble various gourds.
weird shape of the balloons
For the balloon implants in her face, Xiao’s family is still trying to raise money to follow up treatments. They have just managed $, 828 and much more may be required till she is fully well again. Xiao isn’t the only person to suffer such a bizarre condition. There is another man from Bangladesh suffering from a condition that has made people call him the Tree Man.
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Abdul Bajandar 27 from Bangladesh was diagnosed with an even rarer condition than Xiao called epidermodysplasia verruciformis making him one of four people in the world to be afflicted with the disease.
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People call him the tree man since he looks like one. Bajandar had 11 pounds of skin growths that resembled trees on his hands leaving him helpless in performing tasks like carrying his daughter.
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Bajandar underwent 16 surgeries till he was finally cured to some extent of the condition. In fact according to Samanta Lal Sen, plastic surgery coordinator in Dhaka Medical College hospital, Bajandar’s surgery was a milestone in the history of the hospital and medical science. Almost all the bizarre warts were removed from the man’s hands.
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