A picture of a man with a nose on his forehead caught my
attention as I was scrolling down the BBC News website.
It turned out that surgeons in China had spent nine months
growing a nose on the forehead of a man whose original nose was damaged beyond
repair in a traffic accident.
The surgeons had expanded the skin on the man’s forehead and
then placed under it a piece of cartilage taken from his ribs. The forehead was
used as the skin there is similar to that of a nose, furthermore the nose can
be moved keeping blood vessels in place. The surgery left is said to be the
easiest part.
The concept of growing additional parts isn’t a new
one. The report goes on to mention the
ear that was grown on the back of a mouse in University of Massachusetts
Medical School (Vacanti Mouse). A wire framework of an ear was made and tissues
taken from cows and sheep were grown around. The structure was then attached to
the back of a mouse whose immune system had been suppressed.
I also learnt of the nose that was grown on the arm of a patient
who had lost his to cancer by doctors from the University College London. A
glass mould of the man’s nose was taken, bone marrow cells were extracted and
place in the mould. This was then grown in the lab. The nose was then
transplanted on the man’s arm so that it could develop blood vessels and
nerves. After that it would be placed on his face. (Jan, 2013)
China however is increasingly becoming the place to watch
for medical advancements, with the government has spending “trillions of pounds
on innovation.”1