Girl with 'Tessier facial cleft' gets complete face reconstruction

BENGALURU: Hailing from Ballari, baby girl Huligemma was born with Tessier Facial Cleft, which disfigured her upper half of the face, right eye, upper lip and palate. She required complex craniofacial reconstructive surgical procedures to restore her facial appearance. But the girl's family is too poor to bear the cost of the surgery, they pinned their hopes on some miracle.

As if answering their prayers, a team of doctors at Aster CMI Hospital, comprising Dr Chetan Ginigeri, Lead Consultant - Paediatrics and Paediatric Intensive Care, Dr Sathish M S Vasishta, Consultant - Craniomaxillofacial Surgery, Dr V Arun, Lead Consultant – Anaesthesia and Critical Care, Dr Gaurang J Kothari, Consultant - Anaesthesia and Critical Care and other surgeons, successfully performed all the corrective surgeries on the girl.

Speaking about the case, Dr Chetan Ginigeri, said, "Huligemma had a face with the cleft extending into the palate, lip, right side of the nose all the way up to the right side of the eye. She required a complex reconstructive procedure to reconstruct her facial deformities and give her a very good functional and cosmetic outcome in terms of bridging the nasal cleft. We were able to give a good reconstructive surgery by clearing her disfigurement which was made possible with the help of craniomaxillofacial and pediatric anesthesia team. Now she is recovering fast, able to feed well without spilling the food and milk from the nose, speak and is undergoing speech rehabilitation. She will gain weight and she will develop normally."

Self-esteem issue can crop up slightly in older children with severe cleft palate and facial deformities. This can be addressed by providing the required reconstructive surgery at a young age. Commenting on the complications involved in the surgery, Dr Sathish M S Vasishta, Consultant - Craniomaxillofacial Surgery, Aster CMI Hospital, said, "Huligemma was suffering from a very rare condition and, to give her a normal facial look, she underwent three procedures till date. She requires one more for final palate correction. She underwent functional repair surgery, the first procedure when she was five months old. It took six hours to prepare the facial cleft, reconstruct the lower eye lid and re-correct part of her face. We did cleft palate surgery in the second procedure when she was 11 months old. The third procedure was bilateral cleft lip repair and was conducted when she was 15 months old. She has a residual defect in the palate as the palate was opened widely."

Dr V Arun said, "For a small child going through a major surgery under general anaesthesia is a huge challenge. Huligemma was only five months old when we did the first surgery. The presence of a large facial cleft also made it risky to maintain her airway and support her breathing during and after the surgery. This requires expertise and equipment which make these rare surgeries safe for children of this age. Anaesthesia for these prolonged surgeries and intensive postoperative monitoring is key to having a good surgical outcome with minimal blood loss."

Durugamma, mother of Huligemma, said, "When I found out that I was pregnant, my husband and I were over the moon. However, during the eight months scan we came to know about the deformities. It was difficult for us. Our immediate relatives began to pressure us to abort. But my baby doesn't deserve this. It's not her fault.

She is innocent. Then we came to Aster CMI Hospital, the doctors were kind to us and told us about the corrective surgeries. They even showed us videos of children on the internet who were born like my baby but went on to lead normal lives after the surgery. Now she has completed all the surgeries and we are very happy to see how our daughter is leading a happy life. We thank the social organizations that have cooperated with Aster CMI on the funding and help our daughter. Also, I would like to thank all the doctors, nurses and staff for giving her a new lease of life."