Martha Rial, Post-Gazette
	Abdul Hakeem Hussein, 7, takes a break with Chad Hetman, of No More Victims, during a walk from the Islamic Center through Oakland to Children's Hospital to celebrate Abdul Hakeem's progress and raise money to help rebuild his family home in Iraq. Abdul Hakeem will have surgery today to repair his scars.

The young Iraqi boy with the war-ravaged face today is having what might be the last surgery he needs to repair his scars.

Doctors are expected to operate for about three hours this morning on Abdul Hakeem Hussein, 7, who came to Pittsburgh from his home near Fallujah, Iraq, with a plain white left eyeball, scarred left cheek and a gap at the left corner of his mouth that allowed liquids and secretions to leak out.

In the procedure, Children's Hospital plastic surgeon Dr. Fred Deleyiannis will remove from the boy's cheek a tissue expander, a balloon-like device that during the last two months has been gradually stretching Abdul Hakeem's normal skin.

It has "created an expanded cheek flap, and the cheek flap will be advanced to replace the scar," the surgeon explained. "The amount of expanded skin we've created will remove anywhere from 30 [percent] to 50 percent of the scar."

The proportion of scar tissue to normal skin will likely stay the same as the boy grows, Dr. Deleyiannis said.

"It's impossible to take the whole [scar] out without having him here for a couple of years and working on this for a long time," he added.

Abdul Hakeem was injured when a mortar blast damaged his home during a nighttime American air strike in 2004.

With the help of the nonprofit humanitarian organization No More Victims and Pittsburgh's medical experts, he now has an artful prosthetic giving him matching big brown eyes and the angle of his mouth has been repaired so it closes better. His father told doctors that fluids don't leak anymore, and the boy's speech seems to have improved.

The cheek scar is pulling the boy's left lower eyelid down, and the surgery should relieve some of that tension. Dr. Tonya Stefko, of UPMC Eye and Ear Institute, might still have to operate, as well, to improve the lid's position.

"We just have to play with the skin a little bit to figure out the best way to redrape it," Dr. Deleyiannis said.

Abdul Hakeem will likely stay in the hospital overnight. If he doesn't have any complications and is healing well, "he can probably go home in few weeks," the surgeon said.

The boy seems delighted with his "new" look, Dr. Deleyiannis added, but "he's ready to go home and see his family and friends."

Yesterday, No More Victims held a walk from the Islamic Center through Oakland to celebrate Abdul Hakeem's progress and to raise money toward the estimated $10,000 it will cost to rebuild his home.

For more information, go to www.nomorevictims.org. Donations can be sent to Maria Roberts, Legal Department, 5 Gateway Center, Pittsburgh 15222. Make checks payable to No More Victims/IHC and write "Abdul Hakeem's home" in the subject line.