Date:01/10/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/01/stories/2007100159441000.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Meet focusses on cleft lip rectification

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: “My face is my passport–why don’t you improve it?” When a child with cleft lip nasal deformity at Kanchi Kamakoti CHILDS Trust Hospital (KKCTH) spoke out about the emotional and psychological difficulties her birth condition was causing her, K. Mathangi Ramakrishnan, chairperson of the hospital’s research foundation, decided to do something about it.

Over 150 delegates this weekend attended the two-day National CME and KKCTH Millennium Workshop on Secondary Cleft Lip Nasal Deformity and Profile Plasty organised by the CHILDS Trust Medical Research Foundation in association with Sri Ramachandra Medical College, Porur.

The event, which opened on Saturday, focussed on how to correct growth defects in children who had undergone surgery for cleft lip and palate at birth. It included live demonstrations of surgical procedures by international experts. Professor Mimis Cohen, Chief, Divisions of Plastic Surgery, University of Illinois, demonstrated how to use the patient’s own tissue to manage residual deformities of the nose, which could affect breathing and cause sinus problems, headaches and loss of smell.

Surgery performed

Nabil Samman, Director, Cleft Lip and Palate Centre, University of Hong Kong, performed a surgery to reposition the upper jaw forward to improve functionality and appearance.

Lack of oxygen, radiation in the first eight weeks of pregnancy and genetic transmission were understood to be behind the defect. But, Professor Samman told The Hindu after the inauguration that the large numbers did not necessarily mean that Indians were disproportionately affected: “There’s a large population in India. People [with cleft lip] don’t all get treatment because they can’t afford it… So the numbers will be reflecting service provision and not necessarily prevalence. It’s very difficult to determine prevalence. There are, maybe, 300 syndromes that have cleft lip palate as one of its features… The cleft is a mirror of multiple anomalies.”