Surgeons 'create nine-year-old's right ear'

In what's being hailed as a surgical feat, British doctors claim to have created an ear for a nine-year-old boy, using cartilage from his ribcage.

A team of doctors at Royal Free Hospital in London has performed the six-hour-long operation on Ethan Giles-Bowman -- born without a right ear due to his rare congenital condition called Hemi-facial Goldenhar Syndrome, Daily Mail reported.

It was a painful process, but the schoolboy is more than delighted with the result and is very proud of his realistic-looking new ear, say his parents. Mother Kathryn Giles-Bowman, 33, from Sheffield, said: "It resulted in Ethan having to put up with a lot of pain and discomfort but he was determined he wanted to do it. Now he is fantastic, the first thing he wanted was to have his hair cut shorter, instead of hiding away underneath it and we're getting used to his new look.

"The change in him since then has been enormous. He is now much more outgoing. It is wonderful for me and his father to see him looking so happy and confident." At the moment the ear looks 'pinned back' and a further operation will be carried out in April to take more cartilage and build up the ear further.

His father Richard Bowman, 41, said: "Ethan has had to live with the problem all his life, but he has just got on with things. He has been so brave and I am sure that he will be able to cope with further surgery. The whole family is proud of him." Ethan added: "It's just nice to feel normal now like my friends."