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A man who had a tumour weighing almost a stone removed from his face is going under the knife in hospital for what he hopes is the last time.

Stefan Zoleik suffers from a rare condition called Madelung disease, which caused fat tumours to grow on his face.

One of them grew from ear to ear under his chin and turned Stefan into a recluse dependent on friends and family after he was ridiculed in the street.

He was also forced to quit his job as a car mechanic because it was uncomfortable to work.

(Image: CEN)

But his living nightmare slowly began to fade last year when doctors finally agreed to operate to remove the tumour.

And now the 47-year-old from the village of Stiavnik, Slovakia is going back to hospital to have the rest of the cancerous fat cells removed.

His problems started in his early 20s when he noticed he was developing a large jaw, and he was later diagnosed with Madelung disease.

The original tumour was removed in a five-hour surgery at the University Hospital in the northern Slovakia’s town of Martin.

He said: "Since that surgery my life has changed incredibly. I don't know why it wasn't possible for it to be done earlier but I'm just grateful that it has been done now."

Igor Homola, a plastic surgeon from the University Hospital in Martin, said: "Although it has changed his life the medical procedures are not over and we now have to do corrective surgery.

(Image: CEN)

"Even after surgery there will be cells that have kept on growing and we now need to operate to remove those as well in order to fix it."

Despite his unusual appearance, Stefan had married and has a son and a daughter who said they had got used to his appearance, but were happy for him that he had managed to gain a face that he was happy to show the public.

He said: "Over everything else it was my family who helped me the most. They supported me both before and after the surgery, and are my rock that also gave me the strength to recover."

Last year, we told how a teenage girl had a giant tumour the size of a FOOTBALL removed from her jaw in life-saving surgery.