Hopkins doctors make new ear for woman on her arm
Posted: 10/02/2012
A woman has a new ear, thanks to a mind-blowing procedure performed at Johns Hopkins.
42-year old Sherri Walter had cancer on her ear and it had to be removed, as well as many of the structures inside her head.
Doctors decided to make her a whole new ear.
They took cartilage from her ribs and they shaped it into an ear. They then took that cartilage and put it under her forearm.
They stretched the skin over her forearm so that it would then cover that ear.
After about four months, they took that ear out of her forearm, put it onto her head, and gave Walter another ear.
Doctors have gone back in, carved it and sculpted it even more, giving her an earlobe, making it look more natural.
And it's a functional ear. She can hear again.
She lost hearing completely in that ear and now she says it's back to the way it was.
And her body won't reject it since everything was done within her own body.
Information from CNN
Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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