It may not have been a nose job in the traditional sense, but the story behind 109-year-old Meir Korner's new nose is quite remarkable.

Surgeons in his home city of Haifa were forced to amputate because of a tumour - and immediately rebuilt it using skin from his own forehead.

Mr Korner insists he has lived so long thanks to a daily routine of rest, prayer, and trips to the beach. For more than 60 years he has enjoyed regular walks along the shore.

But those strolls in the sunshine came back to haunt him with the tumour.

The operation took place at Haifa's Rambam Health Care Campus, the only Israeli hospital to perform the procedure, which takes just an hour under local anaesthetic. A procedure called forehead flap rhinoplasty involves skin from the patient's head being folded across the remaining portion of the damaged nose.

Dr Yitzchak Ramon, senior plastic surgeon, said: "Nose reconstruction is a real challenge, yet just days after the operation it looked like nothing had happened to the patient's nose."

Mr Korner is determined that the reconstruction will not change his lifestyle.

He said: "The doctors say this happened because of the sun, but I don't think I have to stop going to the beach. I look and feel good because of the doctors and because I do what I love.

"The Almighty promised me many years on this earth, and the moment I can, I will return to the sea - with sunscreen."