Meet Lillie, the first person in the UK to receive a dissolvable heart implant

A 14-year-old girl has become the first person in the UK to have a dissolvable implant fitted to close a hole in her heart.

Lillie, from Warrington, had the procedure at Liverpool's Alder Hey Children's Hospital earlier this summer.

The implant will help to support Lillie's heart as it heals, before slowly dissolving completely.

The new treatment means Lillie can continue taking part in rugby, which she hopes to play professionally in the future.

Lillie was born with a condition called an atrial septal defect (ASD), which means there was a small hole in the wall of the heart that separates the two upper chambers - around the size of a 10p coin.

Doctors had planned to close it using a traditional metal implant, however this could have stopped Lillie from playing rugby.

Instead, doctors at Alder Hey were given special permission to use a new dissolvable implant called Memosorb.

The implant is made from materials similar to those used in dissolvable stitches.

It acts like a scaffold, allowing the heart to heal itself over time, before fully dissolving and leaving behind no trace.

Lillie has since returned to playing rugby and is having regular check-ups.

She explained: "It's amazing to know I was the first person in the UK to have this new type of implant.

"I'm enjoying doing the things I love and not having to worry about my heart."

Lillie's mum added that the teenager is "healing absolutely perfectly" and has also taken part in a 5k run and visited a theme park since the operation.