The youngster suffered severe burns to his face and head four years ago after he fell into a fire, and underwent a skin graft operation that has meant he had to spend years wearing a mask to help his scorched flesh to heal.

Dubbed 'Mask Boy' in China after his plight was raised in online reports, Xiang Xiang (not his real name) would rather not have to wear the headgear – but also wants to be 'handsome' so that other people no longer stare or, worse, bully him.

His family have taken him to Beijing, where he is set to undergo a series of further operations to repair the damage to his face and body at a cost of around 300,000 yuan (£32,000).

Since being horrifically burned Xiang Xiang has only looked in the mirror once and seen the full extent of his disfigurement, according to his father.

'At the time he stared at the mirror for a long time and said one sentence, ''How did my face get so burnt?'' and then he never looked into the mirror again,' Mr Wang told the People's Daily.

'We are afraid he will be bullied and hurt. So this time coming to Beijing we must have our son healed so that he can be handsome again.' 

After the initial skin transplant, the boy was forced to endure a lengthy wait for further surgery to allow his breathing to fully recover from the ordeal.

The lengthy delay has led to Xiang Xiang becoming self conscious about his appearance and aware of how his facial expressions and vision are restricted.

'At the end of last year his breathing ability had recovered and was at the standard required for the operation to go ahead,' said Mr Wang.

'My son said to me that he had to do the operation so that he could get rid of the mask.' 

The boy was forced to endure the cruel stares of passers-by after he bravely decided to remove his mask as he travelled to the hospital for his latest round of treatment.

(dailymail.co.uk)