A 10-year-old boy with a rare condition that left him with dark hair but white eyelashes over his right eye has had an eyelash transplant operation.

The complicated surgery involved surgeons removing all of the white hair follicles, and then replacing them with black hair follicles from the back of the boy’s head.

The youngster complained his life was becoming a misery because he felt different because of the long white eyelashes that appeared over his right eye. He said that other children teased him making him reluctant to go out and play with them.

Pictures Credit: AsiaWire

The family are from the city of Suzhou in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu where his parents said that their son, identified only by his surname Xu, was diagnosed as suffering from vitiligo which causes light patches to appear on the skin from a lack of the skin pigment melanin, and it can also turn sections of dark hair white.

His family then took him to the Naval Medical Centre at the Second Military Medical University in Shanghai where doctors confirmed them that vitiligo on the boy’s eyelid causes the eyelashes to change colour.

Doctor Li Yufei who led the surgery told local media: “It is a very rare case and we have never seen such a patient. We decided on a surgery plan with two steps. We removed the white eyelashes first and then transplanted tiny black hairs from the back of his head in their place.”

The surgery was deemed a success as the boy’s transplanted eyelashes are growing normally and this time with the right colour.

Meanwhile, the brave 10-year-old admitted that he is happy to be able to play with other children again.