A Vietnamese girl whose lower face had been all but consumed by a massive tumor may now have a good chance at a normal life, surgeons announced during a news conference today. "The surgery on Tuesday was a complete success," said Dr. Robert Marx, a professor of surgery and chief of the division of oral and maxillofacial surgery at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center. "Right now she looks like a normal young lady, but with a swollen face and a swollen tongue." The optimistic prognosis comes just three days after Marx and his team of doctors at the University of Miami completed a marathon 14-hour surgery to remove the facial growth that had plagued 15-year-old Lai Thi Dao for the last 10 years. Once the mass was removed, doctors determined that the tumor weighed 12 pounds, 9.9 ounces. The growth has kept her from a normal life, and it could have been fatal if left to grow. The tumor started out as little more than a cyst on Lai's tongue when she was three years old. At that stage, surgery to remove the growth would have been quick, cheap and relatively painless. But Dao had little access to medical care where she lived, and the tumor went untreated. By the time Lai was 15, the tumor had slowly consumed the lower half of her face and accounted for roughly one-fifth of her body weight. As it grew, normal tasks such as talking, eating, drinking and sleeping became increasingly difficult. The doctors involved with the surgery said the Schwannoma tumor was one of the largest ever reported -- perhaps even the largest such facial tumor in history -- but it probably won't return now that it has been removed. Source : ABCNews