What Does A Pediatric Plastic Surgeon Do?

The term plastic surgery often conjures images of breast implants, face-lifts, and tummy tucks, and while this is an important aspect of the business, some parts of the specialty go beyond cosmetics. A pediatric plastic surgeon in is the business of operating on the many kinds of congenital defects and other life situations that may impact the life of a child.
One in seven hundred to one thousand births finds a child with a cleft lip or palate. 

Sometimes a cleft lip can be primarily an aesthetic issue, but this congenital defect often carries other complications. Cleft lips can affect language acquisition and cause severe in articulation. Children who suffer from this speech diagnosis will usually struggle with reading and spelling as a result of their tendency to spell and pronounce the way they hear themselves say things. Cleft lips and palates can also cause difficulties in eating, and it is these types of issues that are usually addressed by a plastic surgeon soon after birth.

Another issue that pediatric plastic surgeons see is the presence of syndactyl and polydactyl digits. Syndactyly formed digits are those that fail to pronounce themselves separately. This is when fingers or toes are fused together failing to form distinct digits. Polydactyl digits are additional fingers or toes. Both of these situations can be addressed and/or surgically fixed. A doctor will determine the effect the formation will have on a child's ability to function normally. Balance can certainly be an issue if the defect is present in certain places known to affect the ability to walk. Fused fingers also pose potential issues with self-care and self feeding. It is possible to have and extra digit or even fused digits that will not change quality of life. These will not be priorities for operation. 

With the American Pediatric Association's "back to sleep" campaign, the number of SIDS deaths decreased significantly; however, another problem emerged. With babies now spending their entire days lying on the back, positional plagiocephaly has become a commonly seen issue. This is when the soft, manipulative baby skull is flattened or malformed due to constantly being in the same position. While this is certainly a more acceptable problem than SIDS, it is still a big problem concerning a child's development. 

Craniocynotosis is a situation that occurs when structures in the skull fuse together prematurely. This must also be addressed soon after the birth of a baby. When a child is born, the skull and brain are not quite finished developing and situations like the aforementioned position plagiocephaly and craniocynotosis must be address in order for an infant to develop normally. 

A pediatric plastic surgeon has an important job, and even though he is dealing with cases that affect development, during surgeries, he will also be concerned with the cosmetic aspect. Children can suffer emotionally from malformations as much as they can cognitively, and a child's doctor and family should keep this in mind as they make surgical decisions.