Facing up to the future

Student Tao Jinhui is facing up to a bright new future after surgeons removed this massive birthmark with a skin graft from his belly.

Medical student Tao - nicknamed Mask since his schooldays - saved for years so he could afford the op to get rid of the birthmark that covered more than half his face.

Tao, 26, from Zhejiang, eastern China, said: "The surgery was very successful. I don't feel anything now where the birthmark was. There are no twists or abnormal reactions on my face so I'm feeling very good."



Surgeons - who put 300 stitches into Tao's new face - say the only noticeable mark of the op is a slight difference in colour between his original face skin and his new skin from his stomach.

Lu Ming - head of the Hangzhou Time Plastic and Cosmetology Hospital - explained:"That difference will fade in a year or so."

And Tao joked: "Now I look at myself in the mirror every day to see if I get more handsome. I used to hide myself from girls, but not any more."