Reconstructive Plastic Surgery
Several of the most common congenital birth defects can be treated by a plastic surgeon operating as an individual, or as a part of a multi-disciplinary team. The most common pediatric birth defects requiring plastic surgeon involvement include:
- Cleft lip and/or palate - Worldwide, clefts are estimated to affect 1 in every 700-1000 live births. Roughly 25% of cleft lip and palate cases are inherited from parents, with the other 75% believed to be the cause of a combination of lifestyle and chance factors.
- Syndactyly / Polydactyly – The most common of congenital malformations affecting limbs, it is believed that Syndactyly, the failure of fingers or toes to differentiate into unique digits, affects 1 in every 2,000 – 3,000 live births. Polydactyly is the presence of extra fingers or toes at birth, and is believed to affect somewhere around 2 out of every 1,000 live births. However, it is believed that many cases are so minor that they are taken care of shortly after birth and not reported, so actual statistics may be higher.
- Positional Plagiocephaly – IN 1992, to decrease the incidence of SIDS, the American Academy of Pediatrics initiated the “Back to Sleep” campaign, which recommended that babies be put to sleep on their backs. While this almost halved the number of SIDS deaths, the campaign appeared to also help raise plagiocephaly incidence fivefold, to roughly one in sixty live births. Plagiocephaly is simply the flattening of one area of the skull, generally one babies tend to favor as they lie. While treatment is often as simply as repositioning the baby during sleep, in more pronounced cases helmet therapy may be put to use. In most cases, plagiocephaly is quite minor and easily resolved, with many more pediatric plastic surgeons becoming familiar with helmet therapy for more advanced cases.
- Craniosynostosis – Much less common, but potentially much more serious than plagiocephaly is craniosynostosis. Craniosynostosis occurs when one or more of the sutures in skull fuse prematurely. This fusion often requires surgical intervention to reconstruct the skull (see craniofacial surgery) to give it a more natural shape. It is believed that craniosynostosis occurs in 1 out of 1,800 to 2,200 live births, and is often a side effect of an associated syndrome.
Read more about this topic: Pediatric Plastic Surgery
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