A Woman With A Rare Medical Condition Goes For Surgery

Mrs. Hiles, a 28 years old woman from South Dakota U.S., is suffering from a blood vessel malformation that has left her face disfigured, the mother of two will be undergoing a surgery in May and as a result Doctors have inserted balloons into her face which are filled with saline every week in order to stretch her skin.

When they carry out the surgery in May they will use the excess skin to cover up the scars left from the removal of the tangles. Jennifer Hiles suffers from arterial venous malformation (AVM), which causes 'tangles' of veins and blood vessels to form beneath her skin, which spread like the branches of a tree.

The condition, which can also causes excess bleeding and even heart failure, has nearly killed her on several occasions - and she has been bullied throughout her life.

While many surgeries to remove the tangles from her face have failed, she is about to have one final operation which doctors are confident will work.

They will cut out all the tangles of blood vessels - and will also remove her nose and rebuild it from her jaw.

Until the operation, Mrs Hiles has had balloons inserted into her skin, to stretch it so the excess can be used to cover the scars.

She hopes the operation will stop people calling her names and allow her to live a normal life with her husband and two children Marlina and Kiah.
'They're just like breast implants but in my face - like a big balloon with saline inside,' Mrs Hiles said.

'They don't feel good - if you can imagine someone taking your skin and stretching it - that's what this feels like.'

They will also remove her nose and make a knew one out of my rib.

She continued: 'The doctors will effectively remove all of the AVM - which is all of the pink on my face - and cover it with new skin from the expanders. 

'I don't know if I'm going to look normal, I don't want to look perfect, just normal.' 

When Mrs Hiles was born her family initially believed her facial deformity was the result of a birthmark - but it quickly worsened.

Her mother, Alfreda Simms, 44, said: 'She needed constant blood transfusions.

'They had tried to cauterize her veins and blood vessels to make it stop but nothing worked for her.

'Seeing my daughter going through that was horrible.'

Mrs Hiles was 12 years old when she was diagnosed with AVM and has had numerous unsuccessful surgeries throughout her life to remove the growths from her face.

The condition has meant that she has faced a lifetime of bullying and unwanted stares.

Her family found the bullying hard to deal with when she was younger - but the constant fear of she might die was more concerning. Mrs Simms said: 'There would be times where I was terrified to go to sleep at night because her nose would bleed.

'She wouldn't be crying at all but I would just find her in her crib covered in blood.

'She nearly died when she was 11 and had to be airlifted to hospital - she was bleeding from her nose and lost a ton of blood.

'She only had two pints in her when they got her into hospital - that was the scariest day of my life.