Five-year-old Lilliana Parrales was born without an ear, but thanks to doctors at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, she has had her life transformed, reports Christie Ileto for 6abc.

Using innovative, cutting-edge surgery, CHOP was able to construct an artificial ear for Lilliana about a year ago.

The little girl’s parents have seen a positive shift in her since.  

“She finally got the courage to look in the mirror and be like, ‘Oh, it’s just an ear’,” said her mom Angelina Parrales. “Since then, her confidence spiked so much.”

The procedure typically takes place over several sessions, but thanks to the new method, Lilliana was able to have the procedure done in five to six hours.

“One of the interesting things about our ears is that by about five years of age, our ears are about 90% of adult size, so in her case, we slightly overexpanded from the size of her other ear when we planned the construction of her ear, but it won’t grow much from here,” said Dr. Jordan Swanson.

Parrales noted that the surgery was performed so that her daughter could feel “whole and complete” and not be the target of bullies, and so far, it has done nothing but positive things.

Learn more about how CHOP doctors helped transform a little girl’s life in 6abc. 

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