To help three-year-old Qibao, who was born with several large dark-coloured moles on his face, doctors stretched his skin to cover the resulting gaps which made his resemble the famous mouse
A young boy who was cruelly nicknamed Mickey Mouse due to his rare condition has undergone an amazing transformation. Three-year-old Qibao was born with several large dark-coloured moles covering his skull.
The extremely rare condition is known as congenital naevus and is caused by an abnormal overgrowth of pigment-producing cells in the skin and doctors hatched a plan to help the young lad live a normal life. Surgeons assured his family they could remove them, but first he would have to have his skin stretched so they could cover the gaps left by the removal of the moles on his head.
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Pre-op video footage shared on social media by his family showed Qibao grew large balloon-like skin on both sides of his head, which caused the cruel nickname. His mum described how the other children in their home of Fujian province, southern China, mocked her son. She said: “We wiped away our tears and moved forward.”
Now, five months after the treatment began, surgeons have declared Qibao’s treatment a complete success after the removal of the moles – and the large grows on the side of his head.
Post-op video footage shows Qibao with his head swathed in bandages playing happily in the hospital’s nursery. Qibao’s courage touched the hearts of social media users across China.
One wrote on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok: “This boy is so brave and so is his mum. I cried watching this.” Another said: “I used to get teased too for how I looked. This really hit me.” A third said: “He looks so happy now. This is the power of medicine and love.”
It was previously reported a teenager was dubbed ‘devil’s child’ by his neighbours after developing a rare syndrome which caused his hands to grow into huge ‘Hulk hands’. Mohammad Kaleem suffers from a kind of gigantism which means just one of his oversized mitts weighs eight kilos (17.6 lbs).
The condition is extremely rare and affects just 300 people worldwide. It has left poor Mohammad with hands so outsized that the distance between the wrist and forefinger on one of his hands is 24 inches (61cm).
The condition typically leaves patients suffering with overgrown bones, skin, and other tissues. Organs and limbs can also grow out of proportion to the rest of the body.
Doctor S Raja Sabapathy, who treated Mohammad, said the condition only affects certain parts of the patient’s body and is one of just a handful of cases reported each year.