EXCLUSIVE Mandatory Credit: Photo by Quirky China News / Rex Features ( 1140390a ) Woman with disfigured face receives life-changing plastic surgery, Taipingshang village, Jiangxi province, China - 09 Mar 2010 WOMAN RECEIVES LIFE-CHANGING PLASTIC SURGERY A Chinese woman born with a disfigured face has finally received life-changing surgery 36 years later. Kang Sanmei, 36, of Taipingshang village, southern China's Jiangxi province, was born on 3 January, 1974. From birth her facial features were extremely distorted, making daily jobs such as eating and even speaking a challenge. Kang has never received a day of schooling and, until recently, plastic surgery was never an option for her poor family due to the cost. When she was 20 Kang got married to a man with a leg disability and went on to give birth to two children, a girl and a boy. The family lead a secluded life as Kang's 'ghost' face, as it is described, draws negative attention wherever she goes. "I thought of getting treatment but no hospital could help, and my family couldn't afford the unpredictable surgeries," said Kang. The situation didn't change until last September when Kang heard that a technology company was launching a charity program called the "Smile Project". "As soon as they saw me they decided to help me with the surgeries," said Kang. Doctor Zhang Cangshang, director of the department of stomatology in Shenzhen 2nd People's Hospital, said: "It's an extremely rare case. It may relate to some problems during the embryo development. She not only has a split mouth, but also all other common facial deficiencies". Zheng said Kang's face has nearly every facial deficiency: eyelids turned inside out, no tear ducts, upper jaw turned out, missing upper lip, nostrils growing upward, indented teeth, rotten right eye conjunctiva, and so on. "We must reconstruct her mouth, eyes, an... For more information visit http://www.rexfeatures.com/stacklink/EKVKDUIJR

EXCLUSIVE Mandatory Credit: Photo by Quirky China News / Rex Features ( 1140390b ) Woman with disfigured face receives life-changing plastic surgery, Taipingshang village, Jiangxi province, China - 09 Mar 2010 WOMAN RECEIVES LIFE-CHANGING PLASTIC SURGERY A Chinese woman born with a disfigured face has finally received life-changing surgery 36 years later. Kang Sanmei, 36, of Taipingshang village, southern China's Jiangxi province, was born on 3 January, 1974. From birth her facial features were extremely distorted, making daily jobs such as eating and even speaking a challenge. Kang has never received a day of schooling and, until recently, plastic surgery was never an option for her poor family due to the cost. When she was 20 Kang got married to a man with a leg disability and went on to give birth to two children, a girl and a boy. The family lead a secluded life as Kang's 'ghost' face, as it is described, draws negative attention wherever she goes. "I thought of getting treatment but no hospital could help, and my family couldn't afford the unpredictable surgeries," said Kang. The situation didn't change until last September when Kang heard that a technology company was launching a charity program called the "Smile Project". "As soon as they saw me they decided to help me with the surgeries," said Kang. Doctor Zhang Cangshang, director of the department of stomatology in Shenzhen 2nd People's Hospital, said: "It's an extremely rare case. It may relate to some problems during the embryo development. She not only has a split mouth, but also all other common facial deficiencies". Zheng said Kang's face has nearly every facial deficiency: eyelids turned inside out, no tear ducts, upper jaw turned out, missing upper lip, nostrils growing upward, indented teeth, rotten right eye conjunctiva, and so on. "We must reconstruct her mouth, eyes, an... For more information visit http://www.rexfeatures.com/stacklink/EKVKDUIJR

EXCLUSIVE Mandatory Credit: Photo by Quirky China News / Rex Features ( 1140390c ) Woman with disfigured face receives life-changing plastic surgery, Taipingshang village, Jiangxi province, China - 09 Mar 2010 WOMAN RECEIVES LIFE-CHANGING PLASTIC SURGERY A Chinese woman born with a disfigured face has finally received life-changing surgery 36 years later. Kang Sanmei, 36, of Taipingshang village, southern China's Jiangxi province, was born on 3 January, 1974. From birth her facial features were extremely distorted, making daily jobs such as eating and even speaking a challenge. Kang has never received a day of schooling and, until recently, plastic surgery was never an option for her poor family due to the cost. When she was 20 Kang got married to a man with a leg disability and went on to give birth to two children, a girl and a boy. The family lead a secluded life as Kang's 'ghost' face, as it is described, draws negative attention wherever she goes. "I thought of getting treatment but no hospital could help, and my family couldn't afford the unpredictable surgeries," said Kang. The situation didn't change until last September when Kang heard that a technology company was launching a charity program called the "Smile Project". "As soon as they saw me they decided to help me with the surgeries," said Kang. Doctor Zhang Cangshang, director of the department of stomatology in Shenzhen 2nd People's Hospital, said: "It's an extremely rare case. It may relate to some problems during the embryo development. She not only has a split mouth, but also all other common facial deficiencies". Zheng said Kang's face has nearly every facial deficiency: eyelids turned inside out, no tear ducts, upper jaw turned out, missing upper lip, nostrils growing upward, indented teeth, rotten right eye conjunctiva, and so on. "We must reconstruct her mouth, eyes, an... For more information visit http://www.rexfeatures.com/stacklink/EKVKDUIJR