In a rare medical feat, Chinese surgeons were able to rebuild the face of a six-year-old boy using a titanium mask, as it was the only available option to hold together his broken facial bones.
Bowen after the surgery has been dubbed by the Chinese media as 'the boy with the batman mask.'
The six-year-old had met with a horrible accident in which his face was crushed. The seven-hour-long operation was conducted at the Xijing Hospital in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
Chinese daily Xinhua reported that the surgeons at the hospital started the procedure by first building a mesh plate to resemble the boy's features, then a titatinium mask was designed, which very much looks like the batman mask. It was then painstakingly inserted into the boy's face.
Chief surgeon Shu Maoguo, following the surgery, said that the boy was able to breath and smell, while eye sockets that literally could not support his eyes and his jaw were also fixed now.
The medical team had to laboriously cleanup the boy's tiny splintered bones, before repositioning the jaw, which is being held in its place by a titanium slate. A clamp plate has also been inserted that will allow him to chew his food, Shu reportedly noted.
In a similar fashion, the surgeons then rebuilt Bowen's lower eye sockets, the bridge of the nose and premaxillary bone, which is part of the jaw, by attaching the titanium mask.
The team has hailed the operation as a success and the boy is still recuperating from the surgery. He is to be released in ten days, the doctors said.
