Bangladeshi 'tree man' gets surgery

A Bangladeshi man with a rare disease that's covered his hands with tree-bark like growths has undergone surgery. A 26-year-old Bangladeshi man has undergone the first of several surgeries to help cure his condition, a rare skin disease known as "tree man illness". The disorder creates warts on the patient's body that resemble tree bark. Abul Bajandar is being treated by a team of doctors to remove, and hopefully cure the disease. Bajandar was admitted to hospital in Dhaka in January and his right hand was operated on in the first of what doctors say could be up to a dozen surgeries.  PLASTIC SURGEON, SAMANTA LAL SEN <<< "We operated on him once and we may be operate more ten to twelve operations. In the meantime we sent the tissue, culture & blood to America for some sort of diagnosis and waiting for this. Our final goal is to operate on both hand and to stop the recurrence of the disease." 

Local media say a team of nine doctors operated for about three hours. Bajandar is believed to be the fourth person in the world who suffers from the disease.