Deformity to be corrected
NINE-year-old Sibabalwe from Malmesbury was born with Apert syndrome, a genetic disorder which involves the skull, the face and both hands and feet.
He will be among 11 children to undergo surgery at Tygerberg Academic Hospital to correct facial abnormalities next week. This is made possible by the Smile Foundation, supported by Big Shoe.
The patients range in age from four months to 10 years.
For Sibabalwe, the premature closure of both coronal sutures of the skull caused an abnormal head shape with a short but high skull, a prominent forehead and constricted supra-orbital ridge.
Not only does this produce a cosmetic deformity that makes children self-conscious and can lead to significant emotional distress, but the pressure on the developing brain can lead to clinical symptoms such as chronic headaches, and disrupt intellectual development.
The midface is usually underdeveloped with a sunken-in appearance, bulging eyes and bite occlusion problems, due to the upper jaw underdevelopment.
The fingers and toes are webbed and fused, which severely impairs hand function. At the age of six months, Sibabalwe underwent cranial remodelling to reposition the cranial bones and advance the forehead and orbital bar, relieving pressure in the skull and giving his brain the room it needs to grow.
At the same time, a midface distractor was placed to bring his midface forward.
As all his fingers of both hands were fused in a single mass which resembled a rose bud, he needed multiple hand operations to release some of his fingers to improve function. Eight years after his initial surgery, his midface has not kept up with the growth of the rest of the face and is again underdeveloped, and his skull shape has relapsed.
The Smile Foundation hopes to change that.
SMS “Smile” to 38413 to donate R10 to the foundation.