Congenital Birth defects affect on an average around 1 in every 30 to 40 births. Few factors may predispose to an increased incidence, such as advanced parental age, family history of birth defects, Smoking during pregnancy, to name a few.

When a child is born with a Birth defect, apart from the health troubles a child faces due to it, it puts an enormous physical, mental and financial strain on the parents / care givers, who occasionally have to even give up their jobs and aspirations to care for their child depending on the severity of defects.

As a plastic surgeon, we deal with some unique and albeit dramatic defects, the timely correction of which can produce life changing results for the whole family of the child being treated.

The common defects a plastic sugeon deals with include commonly

1) Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate

This is a birth defect which affects the upper lip and/or upper jaw, where there usually a large and visible gap, which c be very distressing to the family as it involves the face and is unsightly. However plastic surgeons are able to perform exceptional repairs of these defects, following which very often nobody would have realized, that child was born with a significant defect.

The timing of surgery is key in these case and usually early intervention gives optimal results (3 months for the cleft lip and 1 year for the cleft palate). Delaying treatment can result in suboptimal results, feeding issues, speec problems etc.

2) Hemangiomas and Vascular Malformations

These are fairly common conditions affecting the new born and may develop after few weeks to months after birth. They appear as birth marks on the skin and can be quite large occasionally.

Many of these conditions are managed conservatively with medications, or even just observed for spontaneous improvement. Some children would need intervention in case of bleeding, strain on the heart, or if the condition is not the heart, or if the condition is not regressing on its own.

3) Defects of the shape of the skull and face

This happens due to a premature fusion of the skull bones, which results in abnormal skull growth and shape. These conditions have to be addressed early to enable normal brain growth and development.

4) Ear defects

Some children are born with mis shapen ears / missing or abnormally small and deformed ears. Minor corrections in the ear shape can be addressed in the first few weeks of life non surgically. More extensive defects are managed once the child is older.

5) Hand defects/foot defects.

Polydactyly is a condition where there is an extra finger or toe. If the extra digit is interfering with hand function it is usually removed. Often it is also removed for aesthetic reasons.

Syndactyly is an abnormal fusion of 2 adjacent fingers or toes. This needs to be addressed at the appropriate time to separate the 2 fingers, otherwise it may lead to reduced hand function, especially when the 2 fingers which are fused have different lengths.

The list of defects is quite long, and only the common few have been listed here.

However early identification of the defects and appropriate timing of treatment will go a long way in improving the child’s health and as a consequence, also the parents wellbeing.

-    Dr Thomas Joe, Plastic Surgeon, KMC Hospital Dr B R Ambedkar Circle, Mangaluru.