A surgeon preparing to reconstruct the face of an Invercargill woman who has endured decades of bullying and stares says he is full of admiration for her.

Southern District Health Board head and neck surgeon Matthew Leaper will lead a team of two other surgeons, two anaesthetists and at least a dozen nurses in what will be a 12-hour operation on the face of Christine Brown.

Brown was born with neurofibromatosis which causes multiple tumours to grow on nerves in her body, including her face.

KAVINA HERATH/FAIRFAX NZ Dr Matthew Leaper, looking at a scan of Christine Brown's skull, will perform surgery on the Invercargill woman to lift one side of her face, improve her hearing and fix her eyelid.

When aged 7, a massive tumour dragging down her face was operated on for the first time.

READ MORE: Woman who has had 17 surgeries on waiting list for face reconstruction

Now 54, she has endured 16 facial operations since, but none have been successful in lifting the right side of her face.

ROBYN EDIE/FAIRFAX NZ Invercargill woman Christine Brown who suffers from the disease Neurofibromatosis, is waiting on facial surgery at Dunedin Hospital.

However, Leaper and his team of specialists are planning to rectify that, with planning for the operation still in its early days.

"Our goal is to correct some of the deformity," Leaper, a surgeon for 12 years, said.

If successful, the surgery would lift the right side of Brown's face, rectify her hearing and fix issues with her eye.

KAVINDA HERATH/FAIRFAX NZ A 3D scan of Invercargill woman Christine Brown's skull, who suffers from the disease Neurofibromatosis.

"We need to do something because she's lost muscle support and structure on the right side of her face, things are falling south, effectively."

Brown is missing part of her right cheekbone and jaw and her face has continued to sag over the decades because nothing is holding it up.

"We have got to the point where that side of her face is pulling down on her eyelid and her ear canal has been stretched to the point it's no longer functioning," Leaper said.

Her right ear canal needs shortening so she can hear in that ear again, and her eyelid needs lifting.

He had spoken with Brown about the options available to the surgeons and was impressed with her attitude.

"She's a very courageous and pragmatic lady who has been through a lot ... we could all learn a lot from her."

The work would be done in about three separate surgeries, with one option to remove bone from Brown's fibula bone, beside her calf muscle, and shape it into a cheek bone.

"We would take the [piece of leg bone] with its artery and vein and connect it to the artery and vein in her neck so that piece of bone has a blood supply."

The new cheekbone would give Brown's face some structure and enable soft tissue to graft to it, he said.

Scar tissue on her neck would also need to be removed.

Brown's surgery would be one of the most difficult jobs Leaper has done in his career, but he would have an able team at his side, including head and neck surgeon Jamie Ryan and maxillo-facial surgeon Rohan De Silva.

"It's easy to lift things, the challenge is to try and give her an enduring result," 44-year-old Leaper said.

"One of the problems is you lift things but gravity and the pull of the muscles and jaw brings it back down again."

A scan had revealed a screw put in Brown's head from a previous operation had gone through her skull and entered her brain canal, but it was not doing any damage and didn't need to be removed.

"It's not a problem but it shows some of the perils from her previous operations," Leaper said.

The surgeons would print out a 3D model of her skull, which has been scanned, to help them plan and prepare for the main 12-hour surgery.

"It will certainly be an all-day operation and we say it's one where you should bring your sandwiches."

No date had been set for the surgery, with planning in its infancy.

He was "quietly confident" of a successful outcome, but guarded given Brown's multiple previous procedures.

"Hopefully we can give her an ear canal that works, hopefully we can give her an eyelid that works a lot better and hopefully we can correct some of the droopiness and structure on that side of her face."

Brown, speaking early this week, said she was nervous about the surgery because of the bone graft, which had never been attempted on her.

The married mother of three, who is often stared at in public, said she hoped the surgery would make her face look "symmetrical", but was realistic.

"Even if they can only lift the ear up and it sits there permanently so my glasses sit on my face, I will be more than happy."