A unilateral cleft palate
Digital News report- The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) will be traveling overseas on behalf of several charitable organizations to donate their reconstructive surgical skills to children with facial deformities, particularly cleft lip and palates, in developing countries. Plastic surgeons will also teach local physicians techniques to enable them to continue to perform cleft procedures long after the ASPS surgeons have returned to the U.S.
“The economic downturn might be slowing the number of facelifts and liposuctions performed, but for many plastic surgeons the New Year brings ongoing opportunities to give back,” said ASPS President John Canady, MD, Iowa City, Iowa, who will participate in a mission trip to Guatemala this February with the local charity Miles of Smiles.
Nearly 5.2 million reconstructive plastic surgery procedures were performed in the United States in 2007, and of those, 28,000 were birth defect reconstructions, according to ASPS statistics. Cleft lips or palates occur in one in 600-800 births. Native Americans and Asians have the highest prevalence rates while Africans have the lowest.
Cleft palates are typically genetic, but can also have environmental influences. During the first six to eight weeks of pregnancy, the shape of the embryo’s head is formed. Five primitive tissue lobes grow, but if these tissues fail to meet, a gap appears where the tissues should have joined. Children born with a cleft palate may have problems with feeding, ear disease, speech and socialization.
Canady, who specializes in cleft lip and palate repairs, said, “Children with facial deformities often face discrimination and ridicule in their communities. When surgeons donate their surgical talents to children and give physicians in developing countries the tools to continue helping people in their areas, they restore lives.”
Plastic surgeons will participate in medical mission trips from January to March in Central and South America including Guatemala, Columbia, and Nicaragua. These missions are made possible through a generous $1 million grant from The Smile Train, which will help defray medical supplies and transportation costs. The Smile Train is the world’s leading cleft charity with thousands of partners and programs in 75 of the world’s poorest countries. Funds from the grant will also help support additional medical mission trips by ASPS Member Surgeons throughout 2009.
“I believe there is a calling inside these surgeons. They love the opportunity to get back to the core of what drove them to become plastic surgeons in the first place,” said DeLois Greenwood, Vice President of Smile Train. “We are coming up on our tenth year and expect to help our 500,000th child this year. Although our core mission is to train local doctors, sometimes there simply aren’t local doctors to train. In these cases, we’re proud to be a part of the effort to get these skilled plastic surgeons on airplanes and overseas where they can make a difference in lives of children who really have no place else to turn.”
Since its beginning in 2000, The Smile Train has provided more than 400,000 free surgeries for children who would otherwise never have received it. Over the last two years, ASPS Member Surgeons have donated their time and surgical skills on 25 mission trips, 812 cleft surgeries, and 635 reconstructive procedures. They have also trained sixty-five international physicians through The Smile Train grants.
|
