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

1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-24282498

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