The young Chinese woman had her left leg extended by 23 centimeters. 21-years-old Xu Juan developed a bone infection when she was a child. Her thigh bone was eaten away by bacteria.

That is why the left leg of the girl was shorter by 23 centimeters, which meant, that most of her life she had to move, using crutches.

«Her condition was very complicated. As she not only had a shorter leg, but her knee and hip joints were also underdeveloped and had to be replaced, » said surgeon Hu Yihe.

According to the surgeon, the treatment plan consisted of two phases. The first phase was to extend her left leg, and the second phase of surgery was replacing the left knee joint and left hip joint.

Ms Xu had four operations in total between October 2012 and October 2013. To lengthen her leg, a metal cage was fitted to her left leg and each day she had to turn a screw to stretch her leg a little more.

As reported the Mail Online, it took a year to lengthen Ms Xu’s leg after which she had surgery to fit an artificial left knee and hip joint. Her treatment ended in February 2014 and, according to the surgeons, after several months' rehabilitation she will be able to walk normally.