A British man in his 70s who had to have the top part of his skull removed after it was smashed in a car crash more than 50 years ago has baffled doctors when he recently had to have the metal plate that was protecting his brain removed to treat an infection: to their astonishment his skull had regrown underneath it. It is very rare for bone to grow back like this in an adult.

72-year old great-grandfather Gordon Moore who lives in Hexham, Northumberland, turned his car over in an accident near Berwick, also in Northumberland, 54 years ago.

Surgeons saved Moore’s life by removing an entire smashed section of his skull from eye to ear and over the top of his head and replacing it with a titanium plate.

But when surgeons at Newcastle’s General Hospital removed the plate to treat an infection underneath, they were astonished to find that the hole made over 50 years ago had been replaced with new bone that grew back under the plate.

Moore’s consultant and neurologist Param Bhattahiri told Newcastle’s The Chronicle on Tuesday that:

“It was a great surprise to find the skull had grown back.”

“You would expect it in a child, but not in an adult, certainly not an area of bone so big,” added Bhattahiri.