VietNamNet Bridge - Nguyen Thi Ngoc Mai, 28, who used to have the face of a 70-year-old woman, appeared in HCM City on May 16, with a much younger face after one month of medical treatment in Taiwan.



“I was completely surprised when I saw myself in a mirror after surgery. Though my face is still swollen, I’m satisfied with my current face. Now, I look like I’m in my 30s,” Mai said.

Mai said that a charity organization took her to Taiwan in late March for treatment. Doctors told her that it was highly possible to resume her face but she did not believe.

“I did not believe, because at that time I looked like a 70-year-old woman and local doctors nearly recognized defeat,” she added.

After talking with correspondents for a while, Mai said she was tired because her lung disease has not been cured completely. However, the woman always smiled, especially when someone said that she looked younger.

Taiwanese doctor Hung-Chi Chen, from the China Medical University, said that Mai got old because of the Werner syndrome, an autosomal recessive disorder, encrypted on her eighth set of chromosomes. He also said that she suffered from serious lung damage, which caused walking and breathing troubles as well as eye wounds.

The doctor said that they used the patient’s belly fat to perform face surgery. “We have treated similar cases and the results are all good. The patient’s face looks unnaturally at present but it will become normal in the coming time.”

Taiwanese doctors said that Mai would have to take vitamins E and T and medicines to cure lung disease.

It’s very difficult now to spot any wrinkles on her face following multiple plastic surgeries and a sophisticated cranial operation to rejuvenate her appearance. Despite a slight plumpness in her face from the last plastic surgery, Mai said wrinkles and complications in other body parts have stopped developing.

Vietnamese doctors previously suspected she suffered from chronic autoimmune urticaria, which is a very rare disease and may be the first manifestation of lupus that is associated with the presence of auto antibodies.

Mai’s problems began when she was 12, with symptoms like itching, hives, swelling, and weight loss. Despite treatment, her condition didn’t improve. Some people advised her to try traditional medicine, and it seemed to work.

Her facial skin showed signs of recovering, but her condition recurred in 2008 and has since been worsening.

In April, Mai was given hope as the China Medical University in Taiwan invited her and a relative to Taiwan for free treatment for one month through the recommendation of TAITRA, a HCMC-based non-profit trade promotion organization under Taiwan’s economic affairs bureau.



Mai Lan