A two-year-old girl from Florida has had a Batman mask-style birthmark removed after an experimental Russian surgery. She received photodynamic therapy, a treatment which is not available in the US. She had six skin graft operations and injections of an undisclosed drug for its removal.
Two-Year-Old Girl Has ‘Batman’ Birthmark Removed In Pioneering Surgery
By
Zainab Pervez in
Feel Good
On 15th September 2022
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A two-year-old girl who had a birthmark on her face which resembled a Batman mask has had it removed in a pioneering operation. Luna Tavares-Fenner, from Florida, had a huge birthmark covering her nose and eyelids. The condition is known as congenital melanocytic naevus – it affects one per cent of babies.
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This kind of mark tends to grow as the child gets bigger. Those who have the condition have a slight risk of developing skin cancer. The toddler had been receiving photodynamic therapy from Northern Europe, a treatment which is not available in the US. She made regular trips with her mother to Russia for more than two years for treatment.
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The mark has been removed with six skin graft operations, and treatments that involved an undisclosed drug being injected into the skin to break down the tissue. The drug accumulates in the birthmark and causes the tissue to die, with new and healthy skin growing beneath.
In an exclusive interview, Dr Pavel Popov told East2West News: 'Luna has already started speaking and she says herself: 'My black spot has gone. I am a princess'.'
'We only had six operations to remove the nevus and have succeeded in making it disappear,' explained Dr Popov.
'The main medical part of the task is done. This does not mean that we have finished treatment at all.
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An Instagram post dedicated to Luna’s story said, “Luna is still recovering from the last surgery and now we need to be patient and wait for the crust to fall,“
"It’s not been an easy process for the young girl, who has suffered infections along the way, and has lived with a number of full-face bandages throughout the treatment."
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“Luna had another surgery on her eyebrow bc there was signs of infection,” reads one post. “It was supposed to be something small, but [the] doctor didn't like the 'aspect' and decided to make a new grafting.”
Luna had surgery at a clinic in Krasnodar - a Russian city close to Ukraine amid high tension over reports of a new conflict between the two countries.
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A cruel woman in a Florida church branded her lovable daughter a 'monster', an insult that prompted Carolina to put her daughter through surgery, that took her to Russia for the first time.
Carolina and her husband Thiago Tavares, 33, raised tens of thousands of dollars for their daughter's treatment in Krasnodar and also received a sizeable donation from an anonymous Russian donor, which they called a 'miracle'.
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Speaking in 2019 about her daughter's treatment, Carolina said: 'When I decided to come few months ago everybody called me crazy.
'But something in my head was telling me I should try.
'People say mothers feel something, I feel it's true.
'I knew I needed to try and come.
'I don't know why, I just decided to give it a try.'
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Dr Popov convinced her online that he could cure her child without putting her through debilitating agony.
'I wanted to avoid the aggressive surgeries that I was seeing with the other doctors in the US,' she said.
Dr Popov is a cancer specialist who has been 'working in photodynamic therapy for over 20 years'.
Luna is clear of cancer but the technique can also be used for patients with her condition.