After being mauled by raccoon, Michigan girl getting new ear

Charlotte Ponce gets a kiss from her dad, Tim Ponce, before surgery at Beaumont Children's Hospital in Royal Oak. Charlotte is having a plastic surgeon create an ear for her after suffering injuries to her face in a raccoon attack when she was an infant. (AP Photo/The Grand Rapids Press, Chris Clark)

Charlotte Ponce, 11, waits with her mom Sharon Ponce at Beaumont Children's Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich., Tuesday, April 15, 2014. Charlotte is having a plastic surgeon create an ear for her after she suffered severe injuries to her face in a raccoon attack when she was an infant. (AP Photo/The Grand Rapids Press, Chris Clark)

A surgeon at a Detroit-area hospital plans to perform a procedure that will begin the process of creating a new ear for a western Michigan girl whose face was mauled by a pet raccoon when she was a baby.

The surgery for Charlotte Ponce is scheduled for Tuesday at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak.

Dr. Kongkrit Chaiyasate is to take cartilage from Charlotte's ribs and carve it into the shape of an ear using a computer-generated template based on the 11-year-old's other ear.

He's to implant the ear structure under the skin of Charlotte's forearm. The skin then will mold to the ear shape over a period of weeks.

Chaiyasate already has done extensive work rebuilding Charlotte's nose and repairing her lip and cheek.