Reconstructive Surgery

 Scars Aren't Permanent 

(2) 

A common fairy tale that you may know is the story of Humpy Dumpty. The story goes that Humpy Dumpty fell off a wall, and all the king's horses and all the king's men tried to put Humpty back together again. Well, I bet none of the king's men where reconstructive surgeons. 

You may have been told that scars will last you a lifetime. You may have fallen down and scraped your knee a time or two and realized over time that your skin grows back different and it stays that way long after the initial injury. Now you may think there is no way to fix this, but that is simply not true! Have you ever heard of plastic surgery? Well, reconstructive surgery is a branch of plastic surgery focuses on fixing scars, burns, and deformities; it almost like an eraser for your skin. Sometimes you can't even tell the person had a scar to begin with! The difference between reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery is, cosmetic surgery is mainly for improving something that is primary for superficial looks.

You may know an aggressive dog in your neighborhood that your parents have warned you to stay away from. Just like any animal, dogs can be dangerous at times and can mistakenly hurt someone badly. Have you known someone that has suffered a dog bite? Children can be bitten by dogs for many reasons.     

Figure 1, Two-year-old dog bite victim just after treatment by a plastic surgeon and the

same child at six years of age after three more scar reduction procedures. (Ben Lee, M.D. photo) (4)

The girl shown above is a victim of a dog bite. As you can see from the picture on the left her cheek is pretty torn up and is stitched together. It's not a pretty sight. But in the picture on the right, you can barely tell that the girl had been bitten! Her cheek is completely healed, except for some very minimal pink scar tissue. The girl on the left and the girl on the right almost look like two different people; it's amazing! This is all thanks to a team of plastic surgeons that working together to diminish the scar that the girl would have to have. While some people need reconstructive surgery due to unfortunate life events others are born needing it.

Figure 2, Child with a cleft palate (1)

Reconstructive surgery can help numerous people who weren't injured but were born with a deformity that would affect them later in life. Have you ever seen children just like you on your TV with deformed upper lips? That is a called a cleft palate. In the picture shown to the left you can see the large gap that is in the roof of the child's mouth. Now try speaking a sentence and be aware of how often your tongue pushes against the roof of your mouth. Imagine what it's like to have a large gap there. It would make it incredibly difficult to pronounce your words correctly. Mending this gap is a common reconstructive surgery performed on younger children. The reason why it's so important to fix this deformity early on is because the child can help the normal growth of speech and hearing development and align the jaw and teeth of the child (3). Undergoing this procedure helps the child appear like there was no deformity to begin with and lets them lead a normal happy life.              

Because of reconstructive surgery, many people and children can grow up to live a happy healthy life. Modern surgery is almost like magic! Doctors can fix so many things that otherwise would have a massive impact on someone's everyday life. In this day and age, no scar is permanent. If Humpty Dumpty had a team of skilled reconstructive surgeons, he could have been put back together again with minimal scarring.  

Learn more about reconstructive and cosmetic surgery at: 
http://kidshealth.org/en/teens/plastic-surgery.html

Works Cited

(1) Cleft palate. (2016). Tour2India4Health. Retrieved from http://www.tour2india4health.com/cleft-palate-surgery-india.htm
(2) It's worse than we'd thought I'd like to call in all the king's horses and all the king's men. (n.d.) CartoonStock. Retrieved from https://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoonview.asp?catref=pha0368&ANDkeyword=humpty+dumpty&NOTkeyword=&TITLEkeyword=&categories=All+Categories&artists=All+Artists&mainArchive=mainArchive&newsCartoon=newsCartoon&vintage=vintage&colorOption1=colour&colorOption2=blackWhite&orientationOption1=portrait&orientationOption2=landscape&cp=3&limit=12

(3) More than a cosmetic repair | cleft lip and palate repair. (n.d.) American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Retrieved from https://www.plasticsurgery.org/reconstructive-procedures/cleft-lip-and-palate-repair

(4)Plastic Surgeons Helping Tiny Dog Bite Victims. (n.d.) CosmeticSurgery.com.  Retrieved from http://www.cosmeticsurgery.com/articles/archive/an~256/