THREE years after a North-East toddler had to go to the US to get advanced laser surgery, UK surgeons are finally providing the service she needs.

It means the future is a lot brighter for British youngsters like Hannah Maxwell-Jones with disfiguring birthmarks called haemangiomas.

But experts have warned that the service is very patchy in Britain, with only a handful of laser surgery centres capable of treating children with rare and distressing facial deformities.

In 2001, Allison Maxwell-Jones, from Nunthorpe, near Middlesbrough, was told that the only surgeon able and willing to treat her daughter's huge birthmark was in America.

World-famous surgeon Professor Milton Waner, of Arkansas Children's Hospital, has helped dozens of children with similar problems from all over the world

Forced to find thousands of pounds to pay for travel and medical costs, Mrs Maxwell-Jones appealed to readers of The Northern Echo.

Readers responded magnificently, raising more than £50,000 to set up a fighting fund to pay for surgery for Hannah.

Now, several operations in the US later, Mrs Maxwell-Jones has revealed that five-year-old Hannah's next operation will involve an NHS surgeon in a UK hospital.

"It is good news for other children like Hannah, it means that they don't have to travel the world to get the treatment they need," said Mrs Maxwell-Jones.

The next operation on Hannah will be carried out by Alex Munnoch, a consultant plastic surgeon in Dundee.

Mr Munnoch said the situation in the UK for children like Hannah was improving. "More surgeons are prepared to intervene at an early stage," he said.