Xia Yuanhai cannot remember having a face different from the one he sees today, but his adolescence was like that of any boy in Laotu village, in Chongqing, southwestern China. Nothing suggested that anything was wrong.
As an adult, his face began to change. Doctors describe it as hyperplasia: an excessive enlargement of the tissues that progressed little by little, so slowly that he never received treatment. Over the years, what seemed like a nuisance turned into a profound deterioration. Now, at 53, the disease has wrecked his teeth and left him almost deaf. He himself speaks of an “alien face”.
Now, together with his brother Xia Yuanchang, 66, he is trying to raise the money for plastic surgery that could change his life and allow him to treat his disease. For now, the goal is still to raise the funds.
