3-Year-Old Without Nose, Eyes Or Mouth Receives Life-Changing Surgery

A team of Australian doctors performed a miracle on a Moroccan boy born without a face.

Three-year-old Yahya Jabaly's skull bones did not fuse together when he was in the womb. This deformity led to Yahya being born without eyes, a nose or a fully formed mouth.

For all intents and purposes, Yahya Jabaly was born without a face.

Yahya's father, Mostafa, took him to multiple doctors and surgeons, but none of them knew what to do with Yahya's condition.

It seemed as though Yahya was destined to live out his entire existence behind a deformed mask.

That is, until an incredibly charitable group of donors and a team of Australian doctors performed a miracle.

It all started when Fatima Bakara saw a picture of Yahya on Facebook.

The Moroccan native knew she had to do something to help this otherwise healthy 3-year-old boy.

Fatima tracked down the family and vowed to help them find a team of doctors who could help.

Professor Tony Holmes, who gained some notoriety when he successfully separated conjoined twins Trishna and Krishna, took on the case and agreed to perform the risky surgery.

The procedure, which Holmes described as “major human carpentry,” involved carving out a nose and refocusing Yahya's eye sockets closer together. This all was made possible by using Yahya's existing skull bone and skin the team grew on Yahya's head during the weeks before the procedure.

What made this surgery especially difficult, aside from the staggering amount of work needed to be done, was that while the procedure was life threatening, Yahya's condition wasn't.

Doctors say Yahya could've probably continued to live the way he'd been living and survive, but this surgery could very well have killed him.

They made this point very clear to the Jabalys, but the family eventually decided to go ahead with the surgery, knowing Yahya's quality of life would be incredibly stunted in its current condition.

Earlier this year, Yahya entered an Australian operating room and came out 20 hours later with a new face and a new lease on life.

Though he still needs to have more surgery done on his nose and to have prosthetic eyes put in, Yahya's transformation is remarkable.

On another happy note, Yahya's younger sister was born shortly after the surgery.

Citations: A New Face For Yahya (Yahoo)