71-year-old pensioner has been living without a nose for eight years (Graphic photos)

A pensioner left disfigured by an operation to remove a cancerous growth says he has been waiting for eight years for doctors to fix a massive hole in his face.

Edward Crook, 71,  had a sore on his top lip which kept getting 'bigger and bigger' before tests later discovered it was cancer.

The retired engineer had surgery in 2008 to remove the sore, and was told a small piece of his shoulder would be taken to replace what was cut away.

He said he was told he would spend just ten days in hospital, but awoke from a coma two-and-a-half months after going under the knife to find surgeons had removed almost half of his face.

He had no nose and part of his mouth and most of the muscles in his shoulder were also removed in a life-saving operation.

Mr Crook, from Bolton, claims he has not been offered reconstructive surgery since the initial operation.

He described how he was expecting a minor operation to remove the growth.