Twins have surgery for rare condition
IDENTICAL 16-month-old twin girls Hope and Blessing Mofokeng, who have a rare cranial condition which leaves them conjoined, will undergo a six-hour reconstructive operation at Tygerberg Hospital.
The girls have a rare cranial condition, craniosynostosis, which causes the closing of the cranial sutures. The Smile and Clicks foundations have made it possible for them to have their operations.
Moira Gerszt, Smile Foundation’s operations executive director, said: “We have never before had identical twins suffering from the same condition and both requiring surgery.”
Dr Frank Graewe, a Stellenbosch University professor in the plastic surgery division at Tygerberg Hospital, explained that the twins’ condition could cause a bossing forehead as well as a long and narrow skull.
“It not only results in a cosmetic deformity, but also puts pressure on the developing brain, which can lead to clinical symptoms such as chronic headaches.” Gerszt said: “These types of cranio-facial surgeries need a dedicated plastic and reconstructive surgeon familiar with performing such procedures on paediatric patients.
“We are so grateful to the surgical team at Tygerberg, together with the national Department of Health, that has offered to do these two surgeries in collaboration with the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Universitas Academic Hospital.”
The life-changing operations are being made possible by a generous donation from the Clicks Helping Hand Trust, says Germinah Nyikana, manager of the trust.