This soldier's new ear was grown under her skin

Army surgeons successfully transplanted a new ear "grown" inside the patient's forearm.

Doctors at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, Texas performed a total left ear reconstruction which included taking cartilage from the patient's ribs. The new ear was then placed under the skin of the patient's forearm to grow.

The procedure allows the ear to form new blood vessels while growing in the forearm, allowing the patient — Pvt. Shamika Burrage — to regain feeling in the new ear once rehabilitation has been completed.

"The whole goal is by the time she's done with all this, it looks good, it's sensate, and in five years if somebody doesn't know her they won't notice," said Lt. Col. Owen Johnson III, head of plastic and reconstructive surgery at William Beaumont Army Medical Center, in a statement.

Burrage lost her left ear in 2016 during a car accident where her vehicle flipped several times and ejected her from the driver's seat.

Burrage has two more surgeries to complete the reconstruction. Doctors plan to use skin from her forearm still attached to the new ear to cover up scar tissue near her jawline.

"It's been a long process for everything, but I'm back," said Burrage in a statement.