Girl mauled by raccoon leaves hospital after reconstructive ear surgery

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)

Charlotte Ponce, an 11-year-old Michigan girl who was attacked by a raccoon as an infant, went home Monday after a life-changing surgery to repair her face, My Fox Philadelphia reported.

At three months old, Charlotte was attacked by a pet raccoon, losing her nose, some of her lip and an ear. During a seven-hour surgery last week, doctors sought to build Charlotte a new ear from cartilage taken from her rib. After retrieving the cartilage, doctors molded it into an ear shape and attached it to Charlotte’s arm, where it will grow skin.

She will undergo more surgery in June, when doctors will remove the ear from her arm and attach it to her head. Charlotte reportedly doesn’t mind the attention she gets from the media and is excited to wear new earrings after the reconstruction is complete.

"She's a special girl with special circumstances,” Sharon Ponce, Charlotte’s mother, said. “Not that all kids aren't special but, you know, she's got a special circumstance but you know, so that puts her in a special kind of category.”