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Thursday March 16, 2006
By SIRA HABIBU
ALOR STAR: Although a plastic surgeon said it is possible to operate and make the bloated growth on Hong Siew Hui’s face smaller, the girl is not keen to undergo risky operations to look better.
She said she would only go under the knife if the growth affected her health.
“At the moment, I am healthy. I do not get headaches and I am not in pain. It does not affect me. I will not do it for vanity's sake,’’ she said.
Unlike most teenagers who fret over freckles and pimples, 18-year-old Hong is comfortable with her appearance.
“I do not mind people staring at me. I will not let all that bother me, as I am more interested in pursuing my studies in Mathematics,” said Hong, who had scored As in mathematics in the UPSR, PMR and, recently, SPM examinations.
“Hong, who loves mathematics and solving sudoku puzzles, hopes to be a teacher or even a mathematics professor one day.
“When I was five or six years old, a visiting Australian doctor to Alor Star Hospital told my parents that my condition could not be treated,” she said.
“After I finished PMR two years ago my parents took me to a private hospital in Penang. The doctor said the same thing. The doctors also said that any procedures done on my face would be highly risky.
“Why take the risk? I do not see any necessity in taking such risks. Why must we risk our lives to appear to be what the majority of the people consider normal?”
Her parents, Hong Wah, 61, and Goh Jit Yang, 58, said they would not consent to any risky procedures.
“I am so scared to let her go through operations. The doctors already said it is going to be very dangerous,” said Hong Wah, a farmer.
Plastic surgeon Lee Kim Siea said it was possible to perform a “debulking procedure” to remove some of the tissues to make the growth smaller.
“However, it is difficult to tell what kind of procedures are possible without scanning to see which are the tissues involved,” he said.
Lee said Hong could consult the Alor Star Hospital's plastic surgeon who worked closely with an Australian cranio-facial team that visits Malaysia twice a year. | 
