Australian surgeons have successfully performed a complex and rare procedure to remove a huge ulcer from the face of a young Filipino boy who had to lift it to eat and drink. 7-year-old Jhonny Lameon suffered from a severe frontonasal encephalocele – a neural tube defect that caused membranous sacs to extend through his eyes and cover his face. He was noticed on a visit to the Philippines by a volunteer from the non-governmental organisation Interplast, who sent photographs of the child to plastic surgeon James Leong at Melbourne’s Monash Children’s Hospital. “As soon as I saw his case, I immediately sent emails to get approval so we could help this little boy,” Leong told AFP. Interplast worked with the Children First Foundation to bring Jhonny to Australia because the type of surgery he needed was unavailable in the Philippines and unaffordable for his impoverished family. Leong said the condition was rare, with about one in 10,000 babies born with the defect. In more developed countries, the condition is usually detected early and corrected. A team of four surgeons, all of whom volunteered, performed an eight-hour operation in March to remove the mass and reconstruct Jhonny’s entire face. The hospital provided an update on the case on Thursday. “Jhonny’s case was quite serious. The operation was quite complex,” Leong said. “We were able to remove the tumour and reconstruct the face by breaking the bone between the eye sockets. We also took a rib graft to reconstruct Jhonny’s nose.” The boy is currently recovering at a rehabilitation centre north of Melbourne and Leong said he was a bundle of energy and was now able to live like other children his age. “Jhonny referred to the tumour as ‘the ball’ and it made life very difficult for him. He was ostracized and teased and had to keep the tumor away from his face to eat or drink,” Leong said. “He still wanted to run and play like any other little boy, but ‘the ball’ made this almost impossible. “We feel privileged to have the opportunity to make a difference in this little boy’s life and we hope that Jhonny’s quality of life will improve significantly.”