Brain surgery cures teen girl's severe symptoms

A teenage girl from Southwest China's Sichuan province who suffered a strange condition for five years, the symptoms of which included slapping her own face constantly, was finally cured after surgery, Chengdu Business Daily reported on Friday.

Seventeen-year-old Xiao He started to frequently feel dizzy from the age of 12. Medical checks at that time showed nothing wrong, but she fell behind other students in class quickly because of her syndrome and left school in the eighth grade.

Her condition then became more severe, as she developed new symptoms other than dizziness, such as involuntary convulsive twitching and a speech impediment.

At the age of 16, Xiao He's condition started to cause more trouble for her family when she began to slap her own cheeks every other hour until they became swollen, and hit those who tried to stop her. However, she did not remember doing so afterwards and would cry to her parents that someone else had beaten her.

Her family took her to doctors all over the province, trying to cure her, despite falling deeply into debt.

Xiao He was finally diagnosed with mental retardation by doctors at Sichuan University's West China Hospital. The doctors performed brain surgery to correct her nerve paths on March 18. The surgery lasted five hours and the teenager recovered well. Her family has begun to picture a new future for their daughter that includes schooling and a job now she no longer exhibits her previous symptoms.