Reading: Doctors graft human ear onto foot in a world’s first

Doctors graft human ear onto foot in a world’s first

Last updated: 2026/01/09 at 7:38 PM

News Room Published 9 January 2026

Chinese surgeons have done something remarkable: they performed the world’s first operation to graft a patient’s torn-off ear onto her foot before reattaching it in its proper place. The result may look strange but it’s a striking demonstration of how far medicine has advanced in recent years. So, what exactly happened? (Picture: Shandong Provincial Hospital)

Doctors graft human ear onto foot — The woman’s ear was torn off in a workplace accident in April, where a large part of her scalp was also ripped away, South China Morning Post reports. Qiu Shenqiang, deputy director of the microsurgery unit at Shandong Provincial Hospital in Jinan, said the woman’s injuries had been caused by heavy machinery and left her with life-threatening injuries. (Picture: Shandong Provincial Hospital)

The experts say that the scalp, neck and facial skin had been torn and ‘split into multiple fragments’ while her ear had been ‘completely severed along with the scalp.’ When the woman went to the hospital, the hand, foot and reconstructive microsurgery team immediately tried to repair the scalp using standard methods. (stock image) (Picture: Getty)

However, the severe damage the accident had caused to her scalp tissue and vascular network meant that the standard methods failed. So, the team were unable to reattach the ear until the skull tissue had healed, forcing the team to look for ways to keep the ear alive until it was ready to be reattached. So, Qiu’s team decided to graft the ear onto the top of her foot before a months long process of recovery and reconstruction. (stock image) (Picture: Getty)

They say this decision was made because the arteries and veins in the foot were highly compatible with those of the ear. They report that its skin and soft tissue are also of a similar thinness to those found on the head, requiring minimal adjustment after the transplant. This operation had never been done before, and there were no precedent or documented successful cases to draw upon. (Picture: Getty)

The first stage – grafting the ear onto the foot – took 10 hours. Five days later, the team encountered an issue when problems with the circulation of blood, a condition known as venous reflux, stopped the supply to the ear, turning it a purplish-black colour. So the team had to do manual bloodletting, which required around 500 applications over five days. (Picture: Getty)

Five months later, after the transplanted scalp and neck skin had healed, the swelling had calmed down, and the surgical sites on the ear and foot had fully closed, the medical team were able to put the ear back in place. Now the patient, known as Sun, has left hospital and her face and tissue function have now largely recovered. However, she still has a few operations to go, such as restoring her missing eyebrows and reducing scarring on the foot. (stock image) (Picture: Getty)

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