An artificial ear was grown successfully on a man's arm in China in a pioneering surgical procedure. The patient, who is a Chinese man identified as Ji, lost his ear in an accident. However, he has now regained hope of having it replaced.

According to the Daily Mail, plastic surgeon Dr. Guo Schuzhong, who works at a hospital in the Shaanxi province, took cartilage from Ji's ribs to reconstruct the ear. Dr.Guo hopes to re-attach the ear to the patient's head in four months.

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The story was initially reported by the Chinese website Huanqiu, an affiliate publication of the People's Daily.

Ji reportedly sustained serious injuries to the right side of his face during a bad traffic accident. The ear on his right side was severed from his face in the accident which occurred last year.

Since the accident, Ji has undergone several procedures to restore the skin on his face. However, he felt that conventional medicine would not serve to restore his ear as a substantial share of the organ was severed during the accident.

Dr. Guo, who is a renowned plastic surgeon, became popular after conducting the first face transplant operation in 2006. Ji first underwent a three-step surgical procedure following his initial check-ups.

Initially, Dr. Guo and his team of surgeons embedded a skin expander beneath the patient's right forearm. After that, cartilage from his ribs was taken to create the new ear, before planting the artificial ear onto the patient's right forearm. In the third step, the fully grown ear will be transplanted to Ji's head using a technique called anastomosis. This operation is expected to take place in three to four months time.

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