A Chinese toddler has received a 3D printed titanium implant to help reshape her skull after it grew to triple its normal size due to a birth defect.

Her name is Hanhan, and the girl recently underwent surgery to deal with congenital hydrocephalus, which is a condition where fluid builds up in the brain and causes it to swell in size, according to an ABC News report. The child is being treated at the People’s Hospital of Hunan Province.

This rare condition happens when cerebrospinal fluid doesn’t drain properly from the skull, according to Dr. Gregory Lakin, Chief of Pediatric Plastic Surgery at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland as quoted in the report. Because this fluid doesn’t drain correctly, it fills up in the head, causing it to swell, and pushes up the bone that surrounds the brain and straining the brain itself.

Typically, doctors remove a part of the skull, drain the fluid, and then put the skull bone back. This will take longer, but there is less likelihood of an infection.

But if the bone isn’t strong enough, a 3D implant made out of titanium may be preferable.

This is possible because Hanhan has reached age 3 and therefore her brain would be done growing, and therefore the skull would not need to grow more.

Without an operation, children with this condition usually experience permanent brain damage due to the huge amount of pressure on the brain. The brain will get stretched out and get thinner, and therefore have problems with speech, vision, or even intellect. Some end up bedridden because they can’t move due to the problem, Lakin said according to the report.