Two young girls are in the middle of having their biggest wish come true - to each have their own brand new ear.

Anya Storie and Charlotte Richardson were both born with one of their ears not fully developed.

Now though, the girls are bravely undergoing a process using 3D printers that will not only gift them brand new ears but will also hopefully allow them to hear properly for the first time.

The man working to make sure both girls get their wish is plastic surgeon Ken Stewart.

Along with the team at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh, he has used a scanner and printer in a process which creates a perfect template of the girls working ears.

This has then been used as a model to create a replacement ear carved out of the children's rib cartilages.

Despite advances in reconstructive surgery, many children over the years have had to endure painful and complex procedures first devised nearly a century ago.

Synthetic materials developed in the 1990s later became the best option but were prone to high rates of infection.

The new 3D printing process involves three operations: one to fit the structure of a new ear, carved from rib cartilage, beneath the skin on the side of the head.

After the skin has conformed to that, a second operation moves the replacement ear into position.

Then, the third and final procedure opens the ear canal to allow the patient to hear.