Student, 23, has drastic chin reconstruction that sprouts leg hair after doctors dismissed ‘cosmetic issue'

The Sun

4 days ago

A STUDENT whose chin now sprouts leg hair after undergoing a drastic skin reconstruction says she feels "like Frankenstein".
Bea Churchill, 23, was studying biochemistry at the University of East Anglia when she first noticed a small lump on her chin in August 2022.
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She visited a GP, who believed it was a harmless lipoma - a benign fatty lump - and placed her on a year-long NHS waiting list for cosmetic removal.
But over the next year, the lump visibly grew and began to impact Bea's confidence - so her family paid £2,000 for her to have private surgery.
But what was meant to be a routine removal turned out to be life-changing when Bea was diagnosed with papillary intralymphatic angioendothelioma - an extremely rare form of cancer.
She has since undergone multiple surgeries, including a facial reconstruction using skin, fat and an artery from her thigh.
The graft grows hair - leaving her with leg hair sprouting from her chin.
She is now raising money for laser hair removal, which is expected to cost over £300.
Bea, who volunteers at a centre for adults with disabilities, from Leatherhead, Surrey, said: "I do feel a bit like Frankenstein.
"I felt ugly, I felt really, really ugly.
"There's such a pressure on women to look pretty and it's really hard to not be that anymore."
Bea first spotted the lump while studying at the University of East Anglia in August 2022.
I thought my sore knee was a drunken injury but it was cancer at 27
"I went to the GP and they said it was nothing - just a lipoma," she said.
"They gave it an ultrasound and put me on a waiting list to get it cosmetically removed."
Bea waited, but the lump continued to grow.
"People would ask me at bars or events if I'd been in a fight or fallen over," she said.
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"I felt really insecure. I became a bit of a hermit."
Her family decided to pay £2,000 for private removal surgery in November 2023 as a birthday gift.
"All my family put their money together. I was really grateful," she said.
But during the procedure, the nurse noticed something was off.
"She said 'I have seen hundreds of lipomas and this is not a lipoma'," Bea said.
"She said I could pay £300 more to have it tested and we all agreed we should."
A month later Bea was diagnosed with cancer and had to drop out of university - which she described as "absolutely devastating".
'Brutal'
Because of the rarity of the tumour, doctors were unsure on how to treat it.
So in May 2024, she underwent Mohs micrographic surgery - a specialised op designed to remove skin cancer - to assess its depth.
Her chin was removed and the bone left exposed for a month.
Bea said: "I had this massive great hole in my face. My chin was basically cut off at that point and my jaw bone was exposed.
"It was pretty brutal. It was really gory seeing my own jaw bone."
What is papillary intralymphatic angioendothelioma?
Papillary intralymphatic angioendothelioma is an extremely rare tumour
It tends to be slow growing, but it can cause skin discolouration, pain, ulcers and bleeding.
Less than 40 cases of the cancer have been reported in scientific literature.
It was first spotted in 1969 by Maria Dabska, who examined six children with the cancer.
Due to it's rarity, there isn't an established way of treating papillary intralymphatic angioendothelioma.
Then, on June 18, she had major surgery - lasting eight-and-a-half hours - using tissue and an artery from her thigh in a "free flap" procedure.
Surgeons removed the remaining tumour, rebuilt her chin, and connected a thigh artery to her neck to keep the tissue alive.
"They plugged the hole with the fat and skin and then connected the artery from my chin to feed it with blood to my neck," she said.
"So I had a big incision on my thigh from just above the knee all the way to my groin.
"I had an incision around my neck where they connected the arteries together and I had my chin removed and the bone scraped again."
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While recovering, Bea was unaware she'd lost function in her leg due to overstretched femoral nerves and tried to stand but collapsed.
The fall caused internal bleeding and she was rushed back into emergency surgery.
But despite the rocky recovery, Bea's body was cancer free.
"I was just completely elated to have survived this crazy surgery on my face and not have cancer in my body anymore," she said.
But Bea felt like the free flap on her face was large and extremely visible.
"There's a picture of a dog that's been stung in the face by a bee and it really looked like that," she said.
"I didn't really look in the mirror for a long time.
"Before this I was really popular with people and I got hit on a lot. I played volleyball and was really sporty.
"I did a cool degree and I was young and went clubbing so I felt really good about myself.
"Then all of sudden in less than a year my face was maimed and I couldn't walk. I felt ugly."
Confidence boost
As she began healing, Bea discovered an unexpected side effect of the flap, it began to grow leg hair.
She said: "My free flap was taken from my thigh so I have leg hair on the free flap on my chin.
"It grows hair like a leg would.
"It gets goosebumps like a leg would, it reacts exactly how leg skin does which is very different from face skin.
"It has a completely different colour from my face.
"It's really bizarre. I do feel a bit like Frankenstein.
"People asked me about my face because they were curious about my chin and I've had lots of people be quite nasty to me in public since I've had this surgery."
She's since had several surgeries to reduce the flap size and is now hoping to raise £300 for laser hair removal to restore her confidence.
"It would go a long way into helping me feel a bit less monstrous," she said.
"It would definitely improve my confidence. I think growing hair on the entirety of your chin is quite stark."
You can donate to Bea's Gofundme page here.