Marlie Casseus

About Marlie Casseus

Marlie Casseus (born 1992) is a Haitian teenager who attracted media attention when she received four surgeries to remove a 18-pound growth from her face that threatened her ability to eat, breathe, and see.

Casseus suffers from polyostotic fibrous dysplasia, a disease that can cause large growths of swollen and jelly-like bone throughout the body, sometimes including the face or skull. The growth probably started when she was five to eight years old, but advanced until her facial features were completely disfigured. It blocked her nasal passage and most of her mouth so that she could only breathe and eat through one very narrow passage. Always a social impediment and a stigma, the growth eventually prompted her to become completely reclusive to avoid public ridicule. Before surgery, the bone growth had become a 16-pound tumor-like mass that covered almost her entire face. It was threatening her breathing and would have eventually caused blindness if doctors hadn't operated.

All surgeries were performed at the Holtz Children’s Hospital, at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center in Florida. The first surgery, in mid-December, 2005, was a 17-hour procedure that resulted in the removal of much of the growth from both sides of her face. During subsequent surgeries, doctors inserted and replaced a titanium plate in her jaw, rebuilt the interior of her nose and jaw, and drew her eyes and lips back together. Other bones were replaced with hard polymers.