Chinese doctors successfully transplant ear they grew on man's arm

Dr Guo Shuzhong hopes to repeat the operation on other patients

A man has had an ear that grew on his arm attached to his head by doctors in China.

Renowned plastic surgeon Dr Guo Shuzhong carried out the complex hour long operation on his patient known only as Mr Ji.

The medic told local media that blood is flowing into his patient’s new artificial right ear, which spent several months growing on his arm.

The pioneering operation was performed by renowmed plastic surgeon Dr Guo (Reuters)

Mr Ji, whose first name and age are unknown lost his in ear in a 2015 accident which also left him with serious injuries to the right side of his face.

He underwent several operations to restore his cheeks and facial skin, but doctors were unable to restore his ear.

Dr Guo, who works at Xi'an Jiaotong University, stretched the patient’s skin on his arm with the use of a skin expander before taking cartilage from his ribs, which was cut into the shape of an ear, and placing it under the skin flap in his forearm.

“I lost one ear. I have always felt that I am not complete,” the patient told China News prior to the transplantation.

An ear growing on a patient's arm is under surgery to be transplanted to the head of the patient, who lost the right ear in an accident, at the first affiliated hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China (Reuters)

Mr Ji is expected to remain in hospital for around two weeks under observation.

Dr Guo, who performed China’s first face transplant operation in 2006, said he hopes to repeat the pioneering ear transplant on hundreds of other patients.