It’s hard to believe it’s been a week since we returned from Cebu. The mission was a outstanding success & we thought we’d share some statistics with you. After screening 67 patients we operated on 59 children & performed 30 cleft palate repairs & 29 cleft lip repairs. Of those children operated on 17 have had previous surgery with the team & returned for follow up surgery this year, with 3 children also having had previous surgery with other visiting teams.
Males represented the majority of those operated on with 37 males & 22 females receiving surgery. The outcomes for the children are optimal when surgery is performed when the children are very young. This year 35% of our patients were under 2 years old year, with our youngest recipient a tender 5 months old. 85% of our patients were under 10 years old with adolescents & adults making up the final 9 patients, our oldest patient aged 33.
Our dental team examined 71 patients & provided dental treatments including cleaning, fillings & extractions, both in the dental van & on patients in conjunction with cleft surgery.