'Elephant Man' Has A Total Of 19Kgs Of Tumour Removed From His Face But It's Still Growing
37-year-old Huang Chuncai had a 17.5kg tumour from the right-side of his face cut off in two operations in 2007 and 2008, and another 1.5kg cut away this Christmas Day.
By Sadho Ram — 28 Dec 2013, 04:14 PM — Updated almost 11 years ago
On Christmas Day, Huang Chuncai, nicknamed 'Elephant Man' for the growths on his head, underwent another surgery to remove part of the horrific tumours that have deformed his face for decades
Doctors removed more than 1.5kg of fleshy growth from 37-year-old Huang Chuncai’s left cheek during Wednesday’s operation at a hospital in Guangzhou, in China’s Guangdong province, Britain's The Sun reported.
mirror.co.uk
The operation was successful and he will now have two more to try and get his condition under control.
dailymail.co.ukDoctors during surgery on Wednesday at a hospital in Guangzhou, Guangdong province
37-year-old Huang Chuncai,dubbed as 'China's Elephant Man', he is said to have the world's worst recorded case of the condition.
He suffers from an extreme case of neurofibromatosis, which has caused large tumours on his face that have completely distorted his features.
dailymail.co.uk
His tumors are so bad that he’s in constant pain and can barely speak or eat, and the extra weight on his face — 33 pounds at one point — has deformed his backbone and stunted his growth.
nydailynews.comHuang, from the province Hunan, lost his teeth at age 25, and his left eye has long been hidden beneath a crippling tumor
The tumour first became noticable when he turned four and as he grew up, it became bigger and bigger.
mirror.co.uk
He is said to have quit school when he was 10 years old because his classmates laughed and alienated him because of his condition.
dailymail.co.ukAccording to reports, several years ago, a circus approached his father to buy his son for holding 'monster performances', but his parents refused
In 2007, a neighbor explained to Reuters how Huang’s face began growing during childhood. The boy’s mother joked that he should be a government official because his head was so big, according to the report.
nydailynews.com
Neurofibromatosis is the name for a number of genetic conditions that cause swellings or lumps
Neurofibromatosis (NF) refers to a number of inherited conditions that are clinically and genetically distinct and carry a high risk of tumor formation, particularly in the brain. Neurofibromatosis is an autosomal dominant disorder, which means only one copy of the affected gene is needed for the disorder to develop.
Therefore, if only one parent has neurofibromatosis, his or her children have a 50% chance of developing the condition as well (it is rarely the case that one person has the mutated gene twice, which would imply a 100% chance of their children developing NF). The severity in affected individuals can vary; this may be due to variable expressivity.
Approximately half of cases are due to de novo mutations and no other affected family members are seen. It affects males and females equally. In addition, some individuals may have mosaic NF, in which some but not all cells of the body carry the mutation.