Girl's hole in head fixed - by a 3D PRINTER... proving science is AWESOME

A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD girl born with a huge hole in her forehead has undergone life-changing surgery to fill it - using 3D printed technology. 

Grace before and after her life-changing surgery

Grace Kabelenga, who was born with a craniofacial abnormality, went under the knife to have the specially constructed forehead implanted into her skull to encourage bone growth. 

It comes after the youngster, from Ndola in Zambia, had surgery aged four to correct her facial deformity - but a large section of her skull was removed to prevent infection.

As a result she had never been to school and was not allowed to play with other children as she was desperately prone to infections.

Just falling over or being touched in the wrong place could have killed her, as the entire front section of her skull was missing and her brain was completely unprotected under the skin of her forehead.

Surgeons perform the life-changing surgery

KJ Now, after seven years and two operations, Grace is finally on the way to living a more normal life.

Mrs Kabelenga said: “I’m very happy to see her, she looks beautiful and she has really changed.

“When we get home there’s going to be a big celebration.”

Grace’s unique facial condition developed in the womb and caused her face to be forced apart by an encephalocele, a defect in which part of the brain peaks through an opening in the skull, splitting open her face down the middle.

It destroyed the base of the skull meaning there was a hole in the roof of her mouth through which her brain was hanging.

Her her parents Ngula and Elijah desperately sought medical attention upon her birth.

Mrs Kabelenga said: “When she was born she was rushed to a children’s hospital. There was so many doctors but they told us they couldn’t do anything because it was beyond their ability.”

When Grace was three-years-old, she flew to Argentina for her first life-changing surgery.

Grace Kabelenga wore a special padded helmet after her first surgery

 After six months in hospital being treated by nutritionists to increase her size and strength, Grace was considered ready for the 21-hour surgery which lifted her brain and rebuilt her face.

American surgeon Dr Kenneth Salyer, founder of the World Craniofacial Foundation, said if she didn’t have the operation she would have died.

He said: “The reason to operate was to save her life, she couldn’t live that way and would not survive long term.”

At seven-years-old, Grace’s face healed, but she still had no bone in her forehead.

She wore a padded helmet and her parents had to take continual care as only a thin layer of skin protected her brain.

In May this year, Grace and her mother travelled to Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, for an operation which would see surgeons reconstruct her skull.

CT scans were used to construct a 3D model of Grace’s skull in order to create a new forehead.

Grace Kabelenga after her first surgery to reconstruct her face.

 The model was then sent to a specialist who used a 3D printing technique to create a latticed framework in the shape of Grace’s forehead, for her bone to grow around.

The surgical team delicately separated Grace’s skin from the membrane that sits around the brain.

Once the skin was separated, the new 3D template was implanted above the little girl's brain.

It’s hard to predict how long Grace’s skull will take to grow but her proud father is already looking forward to her being able to play with other children.

Mr Kabelenga added: “Every day she is still improving. When her immune system is really strong, then we can say now Grace can go out and mingle with any other person.”