He was born with such a severe facial cleft that doctors had to perform five surgeries to save his left eye and open his nostrils. Now five years old, little Ethan Zweig knows that other children point and stare at him. But to the amazement of his mother Annie, he has a remarkably mature response: he immediately goes over and introduces himself. As Ethan prepares himself to start at a new school in Los Angeles, California, this fall, it is this confidence that gives Annie a small sense of calm.

If you ever needed proof that fad diets don't work, this is it. A new study has mapped out two very different diets - low-fat and low-carb - over a two-year period. Analyzing dozens of studies over the past few years, an obesity doctor and National Institute of Health official tracked dieters' body weight in one graph, and their energy intake (i.e. calories consumed) in another.

Beryl Romaine's 'baby' was actually a huge growth on her womb that would not only wreck her dreams of marriage and motherhood, but leave her confidence in tatters. The now 50--year-old,from Essex, was one of millions of women who suffer from fibroids - benign growths in or around the womb. She was devastated when at 32 she was told she needed a hysterectomy to solve the problem. Experts say many women are not being given any other options - such as less-invasive surgery or a new daily pill, approved today by the health watchdog NICE, to manage symptoms - and as a result, are being denied the chance of motherhood.

Adam and Neil Pearson, 31, from Croydon, suffer from neurofibromatosis, a genetic condition which affects them very differently. Adam (left) has huge benign tumours all over his face and is slowly going blind, while Neil (right) battles short term memory loss and epilepsy. As part of a BBC Horizon programme tonight, they tell their story - and seek to find out whether the condition will tear apart their lives. Bullied as a teenager, it would have been easy for Adam to become depressed at the stark difference between he and his brother's looks. But in the documentary, he says he remains free of bitterness. He said: 'Once I started thinking like them the bullies had won. It's about the life you have, not the one you don't. It wasn't an emotionally productive thing to do. For me, it's all I've ever known. It's very much a part of me. It would have been like asking: "Why am I this tall?"'

Royal Kumar (left), from India, was born with the deadly hydrocephalus - a build-up of fluid on the brain. The condition caused the four-month-old to suffer severe bouts of vomiting, drowsiness and his development had been halted. But his biological parents couldn't accept his difficulties and abandoned him. Thankfully relatives Prabha Devi (right), 30, and husband Rajendra Prasad, 45, took him under their wing. The generous couple even donated all of their life savings in an attempt to save Royal's life.

Wife and mother Kirsty Wightman, 28, from Edinburgh, Scotland, was forced to deliver her daughter, Kaci, right and inset, early as a German hospital missed early signs of her now-terminal cancer. Rather than wait the full-term, British doctors conducted a C-Section nine weeks early and began a programme of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Kirsty, pictured with her son Kyle before the diagnosis, left, said: 'My prognosis is still terminal but I am determined to prove doctors wrong and survive longer than three years.'

Jade Hughes, 23, from Devon, had a colostomy bag (left) fitted this year after battling ulcerative colitis. She was diagnosed with the long-term condition, where the colon and rectum become inflamed, when she was just 17. After years of waking up in the middle of the night in agonising pain - she made the decision to have part of her bowel removed. This was replaced with a pouch, known as an ileostomy bag - which she hoped would give her a new lease of life to exercise again. She said her husband Will, 24, (right) has helped her get through her journey with the chronic condition. But she said she was hurt when a woman said her bag wasn't appropriate to swim in and scared the children.

A 15-year-old Colorado boy who helped pass a law requiring schools to allow students to use medical marijuana has died. Jack Splitt used marijuana to treat pain from cerebral palsy. In February 2015, he and his mother, Stacey Linn, made headlines after a teacher ripped off his cannabis-laced skin patch. Stacey and Jack hit out at the teacher and began pushing for what ultimately became known as Jack's Law in June this year. On Wednesday, just weeks after the historic bill, Jack's debilitating muscle contractions worsened and he died.

The cause of Jessica Addicott's detachment from her elder child? Ongoing postnatal depression (PND) - a disease that is still affecting far too many British women after giving birth. That this devastating condition can extend far beyond the first year is not well known, nor widely recognised by GPs.

Last July, Dave Bolton (main), 35, from the Wirral, Merseyside, was told he had 12 months to live. The former police officer had a Glioblastoma Multiform 4 brain tumour (GBM4) - known as 'The Terminator' for its low survival rates. The father-of-two underwent a nine-hour brain operation (inset) to remove as much of the tumour as possible. But in June this year, doctors told him there was not much of the mass left - and he claims cutting out carbs and sugars and eating more meat, dairy and fats is the reason why. However many doctors warn there is no evidence the diet will help the battle against cancer.

Buckinghamshire-based nutritionist Claire Baseley has come up with 11 easy snack swaps that still give youngsters a sweet treat. By simply swapping some of their favourite naughty treats for healthier options, you can drastically cut the amount of sugar, fat and salt they eat every day. From left to right: crisps can be replaced with popcorn, chocolate biscuits can be swapped for banana chunks or apple slices, cheese biscuits can be exchanged for vegetable sticks and houmous, and chocolate bar can be swapped for a home-made flapjack (recipe inside).

Patrick Hardison, 42 (left), a father-of-five (pictured top right with his children at Disney World), says he has spent the last 12 months adjusting to feeling 'normal' again after suffering 14 years of stares and comments after being horrifically burned. Hardison, a former firefighter, was 27 when the roof of a burning mobile home collapsed on him, causing his mask to melt on to his face and destroying his features. Last August he received a full face transplant in a 26-hour operation, and says it has changed his life completely (bottom right, before the accident, afterward, and after his transplant).

Amanda Day from the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, used to suffer headaches and crippling back pain, both dismissed as 'migraines and growing pains'. Some days, she even had trouble walking. 'When Mum and Dad told me a tumour had been found, I burst into tears of relief,' Amanda says. 'I didn't understand then how critical my situation was. I just knew this meant I wasn't going to go on suffering, I was finally going to get some help.'

Brain scans and photographs of babies whose mothers were infected with Zika showed the devastation the virus can wreak on their brains. Overlapping tissues and abnormal skin folds suggested their brains had stopped growing, Brazilian experts writing in the journal Radiology found.

Alice Hohenhaus, 25, battled leukaemia as a child and full body radiation and scarring left her unable to carry a baby to full term. Her mother, Theresa Hohenhaus, 46, offered to be a surrogate and on June 2nd, gave birth to little Parker. The mother-of-four didn't think twice about it after seeing her daughter go through so much and would consider being a surrogate for her again. 'It was so beautiful. I was worried about handing him over at first and Alice was worried about how she would cope seeing me in so much pain. But we both made it through and it is a moment I will honestly cherish until I die,' Theresa told Daily Mail Australia.

As sugary processed food and fizzy drinks move away from popularity, sales of snack bars are soaring. We investigate how healthy these new trendy treats really are, including (from top left) Pret Popcorn Bar, Cadbury Brunch Raisin, Sesame Snaps, Go Ahead Yoghurt Breaks, Jordans Frusli Juicy Red Berries, Traidcraft Geo Bar Wild Apricot, Nature Valley Crunchy Oats & Honey, Nakd Bakewell Tart and Rude Health The Beetroot.

Izabella Myers (left), from Pennsylvania, began wearing an expander (top inset) at just three months old to help prevent her eye socket from closing over while her skull is developing. But now, the nine-month-old is fitted with increasingly bigger clear balls (right) every two weeks. The expanders will stretch the socket until it's big enough to hold a glass eye. The artificial eye is a medical necessity to ensure Izabella's face develops evenly as, currently, her left side droops by around half an inch. Her mother, Alexis Miller, 27, first learned about her daughter's condition during her 20 week scan (bottom inset), when doctors noticed they couldn't see anything where her left eye should be.

It's been just over a year since nine-year-old Zion Harvey received a double-hand transplant. And now he is setting his sights on a new goal: playing football. 'I feel happy about my new hands, and I don't feel different,' he said during a briefing at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia on Tuesday.

This is the 16-year-old boy who survived a brain-eating amoeba. Sebastian DeLeon is one of just four people in the last 50 years known to have survived a Naegleria fowleri infection, which kills 97 per cent of patients. He was swimming on a private beach in Orlando, Florida, during a vacation with his family on August 7 when he contracted the infection through his nose.