A GIRL who needed 60 stitches after being savaged by a dog faces an anxious wait to learn whether she will need plastic surgery.

Abbie Varrow, five, was bitten in the face by a German shepherd dog while jumping on a trampoline in a neighbour’s back garden in Ploughmans Lane, Great Notley.

As she recovers at home, Abbie’s wounds need treating three times a day by parents Tony and Alyson Varrow.

Mr Varrow said: “At first she didn’t want us to touch it at all, because she said to us ‘my nose feels funny’.

“But each morning when she gets up, she looks in the mirror and she can see the improvement, so that is helping her understand.

“I think Abbie has realised that if she lets mum and dad get on with it and clean her wounds up, then she’s going to get better.

“She is being really brave about the whole thing now.”

Doctors will assess Abbie’s injuries again at the end of May, when they will decide what action needs to be taken.

Tony added: “The doctors are waiting until it all heals up and the scabs go away.

“But they have said she is healing up really well because the wounds have been cleaned properly.”

Abbie had to spend two hours in surgery at Broomfield Hospital, in Chelmsford, after the attack, but doctors were unable to fix severed nerves in her nose.

The family have been overwhelmed by the support they have received since the attack, on March 27.

Mr Varrow said: “I just want to say thank you to everyone for the all the messages wishing us well.

“It is brilliant to know Abbie has so much support out there.”

A man, 42, from Braintree has been arrested on suspicion of owning a dangerous dog and bailed to appear at Braintree police station on April 22.

The dog has been seized by police while investigations continue.