Anyways, instead of boring you with more Heidi Montag tales, I thought I'd change things up a bit today, and let you all know about the other, more meaningful aspects of plastic surgery. While a good surgeon can help you go from an A cup to a DD, or suck 60 lbs right off your thighs, he is capable of much, much more. Few people realize that most plastic surgeons have specialties. For example, our good friend who is a plastic surgeon specializes in hand surgery, though you would never know that based off his patients. Because of the nature of plastic surgery, many surgeons are even called upon after natural disasters to help reattach limbs and aid burn victims. Check out this blog to see how plastic surgeons have helped with relief in Haiti after the major earthquake. You can also find links to read blogs from actual surgeons who were in Haiti in that post.
But plastic surgeons don't just offer their services after major earthquakes. There are many prominent organizations comprised mostly of plastic surgeons, offering their services for free in third world countries. My particular favorite being Operation Smile. This non-profit organization provides free surgeries for children with clef-lip, cleft-palate, and other facial deformities around the world. Cleft lip and cleft palate occur in approximately 1 per 500-700 births, the ratio varying considerably across geographic areas or ethnic groupings. Environmental and genetic factors such as maternal illness, drug use, and malnutrition are thought to contribute to cause of clefting, and these are factors found more often in poverty of third world countries. For more information on the actual disease, click here
Check out the amazing difference this group of medical professionals can make for one child:
For a child, this is invaluable. It really is amazing what they are doing, and the children are completely aware. Read this patient story from a boy who had cleft-lip repair in Africa...be warned, it might get you a little teary...
I was born with a cleft lip in Kaptrit, a small village in western Kenya. My parents didn't know that the repair of my lip was possible, and many of the children in our village were afraid of me. When I was 13, my family learned from our neighbor, Joseph Zewedi, that Operation Smile doctors would be providing surgery in Nakuru. Unfortunately, my parents didn't have enough money for the trip to the hospital. Kind-hearted Joseph started a collection in the village for the money - about $3.50 - for a one-way bus ticket to the mission site. Joseph raised the funds, and he and I began our eight-hour journey to Nakuru.It is so important for the rest of society to be aware of and support programs and organizations like Operation Smile. With so many important charities and foundations in the world, many endorsed by celebrities, I hope ones like these do not go overlooked. Visit their website, http://www.operationsmile.org/, to read more about the organization, and if you are interested, find out how to support them or make a donation.
Three years later, my mother confessed that she never believed my lip would actually be repaired during the medical mission. She wanted the volunteers of Operation Smile to know that she is eternally grateful. So am I. Now, the children in my village not only accept me, they believe I hold some kind of magic. I have more friends than ever.
Other volunteer organizations for plastic surgeons include:
