A victim of horrific facial disfigurement – known as “the man with no face” – has been given new hope by the advancement of medical science.

Jose Mestre, from Lisbon, Portugal, has been losing his face to a huge growth for the past 35 years, distorting it out of all recognition – and it’s still growing. The tumor on 52-year-old Jose’s face is a collection of blood vessels that have expanded, producing a raised red area on the skin.

Jose was born with a strawberry-coloured birthmark on his upper lip. At puberty it began growing, eventually smothering his lips, nose and one of his eyes. Now it is 33cm long and weighs 3kg. But Jose’s religious faith – as a Jehovah’s Witness he refuses to accept a blood transfusion – has prevented him from having surgery to remove the growth.

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Victim Chen Zongtao, 29, lives in a remote Chinese village and hasn’t been able to afford medical help.

The growth first started on his left foot when he was two years old. But it soon spread across to his right leg and engulfed it. Over the years, it has ballooned in size to weigh more than 70KG.

Doctors at the hospital in Changsha, central China’s Hunan province, have been probing the tumour this week. Zongtao is said to be suffering from neurofibroma – a usually-benign tumour originating in nerves.

It is not yet clear if medical teams plan to take action on the growth.

[Source - VIA]

A Chinese man recovers from surgery that removed part of his facial tumours, which weigh more than 20 kilogrammes in total.

[VIA]