Saving Private Rhino

From the Land of Mao Tse Dung comes an epic tale of unrequited love and long sniffling; a journey that takes you from the heights of soaring, sneezing passion to the anguished depths of dripping sinus cavities betrayed.

A nose that knows no boundaries, ignores all limitations and, fleeing the familiar confines of face, decides to seek its fortune on a higher plane.

Its motto: "To the forehead ... and beyond!"

From ABC News:

After a Chinese man’s nose was irreparably damaged from infection, his doctors decided to “grow” a second nose on the man’s forehead to replace the original nose.

The patient, identified only as Xiaolian according to Reuters, has his nose damaged from an infection following a car accident. His doctors decided the only way to reconstruct his nose was to surgically form a new one on the 22-year-old’s forehead.

Tissue expanders were placed under the skin and then cut to resemble a nose. According to local media, doctors expect to implant the new nose soon.

Dr. Patrick Byrne, the director of Facial, Plastic and Reconstruction Surgery at Johns Hopkins Medical Center, said forehead skin is used to help reform noses because it is the closest match to skin on the nose. However, usually the nose is reformed during surgery instead of on a patient’s forehead.

“My guess would be that they felt that the tissue in the nose was so damaged they had to use the forehead skin on the interior part of the nose,” said Byrne. “It’ll be a real nose and [have a] breathing passage way.”