'Elephant legs' woman set for operation

Wang Cheng, 24, cannot work or even wear trousers because of the grotesque and painful elephantiasis which has dogged her since the age of six and left her with legs weighing 50 kilos.

"I cannot go out to work," Ms Wang told AFP as she slowly raised herself to sitting in her bed at Taipei Municipal Wan Fang Hospital.

"Nor can I wear trousers as normal people (do)."

Ms Wang's condition has forced her to stay at home with her father, paralysed from a stroke, and unemployed mother since graduating from high school in the eastern Chinese province of Zhiangsu.

However, her suffering may be at an end after she was offered free surgery by a Taiwanese specialist, who will alleviate the swelling by cutting away some of the lymphatic tissue in her legs.