China's 'Elephant Man' Has Surgery To Remove Three Pounds Of Flesh From Face (PHOTO)

A 37-year-old Chinese man with pounds of deformed flesh growing on his face underwent surgery Christmas day to remove some of the unflattering tissue.

Nicknamed "Elephant Man," Huang Chuncai, from the Hunan province, was born with a genetic disorder called neurofibromatosis that affects the normal growth of neural cell tissue, the New York Daily News reported.

Doctors at a hospital in China's Guangdong province removed over three pounds of the tumors from Chuncai's left check. Chuncai has had multiple operations over the last six years. Reuters reported that in 2007 the tumors on Chuncai's face weighed a total of 33 pounds.

Chuncai's left eye is completely covered and he is almost always in pain. Chuncai's backbone is also deformed because the growth is so heavy, and the tumors have severely diminished Chuncai's ability to eat and speak. He lost all of his teeth by the time he was 25.

A neighbor of Chuncai's told Reuters the tumors began growing when he was a child.

"His head got bigger and bigger each year," the neighbor, Huang Bamei, told Reuters.

Bamei also told Reuters Chuncai's mother said her son should become a government official because his head is so big.

Though he is called "Elephant Man," Chuncai doesn't actually have "elephant man disease."

Simon Vukelj, Director of Communications for the Children's Tumor Foundation, told the Daily News that the actual elephant man disease is really Proteus Syndrome, which also cause tumors to grow.

"The most famous case was a guy named Joseph Merrick, who was known as 'the elephant man' and is the source of public lore," Vukelj told the Daily News. "It was thought he had NF [neurofibromatosis], so that's why it is often still called elephant man's disease, but that is incorrect."

Surgery on Chuncai's face is potentially life threatening. When Chuncai had surgery in 2007 his mother, He Baohua, told to Reuters she hopes the doctors can help him.

"I am holding his hand, patting his head, and he told me: 'Don't cry mother. I should get better. Everything that can be cured, will be cured.' I love him a lot," Baohua told Reuters.

See pictures of Chuncai before and during his surgery here.