Give HK Cleft Lip and Palate Families a Smile

'Reconstructive Surgeries for Microtia and Cleft Anomalies' MedicalSymposium

HKACLP held ‘Reconstructive Surgeries for Microtia and Cleft Anomalies’ Medical Symposium in the lecture hall of the Hong Kong Space Museum in the afternoon on April 5.  Five plastic & reconstructive surgeons were invited to give lectures for us. The topics were: Unilateral Cleft Lip and Macrostomia Repair, Bilateral Cleft Lip Repair & Primary Nose Revision, Cleft Palate Repair, Minor Lip & Nose revision, Adult Patients’ Lip Revision & Rhinoplasty, Auricle Reconstruction for Microtia.

Between the five lecture topics, there were also sharings from parents and patients, including Mrs. Cho’s sharing on application of lip tape and nasal device to reduce the severity of her son’s initial cleft lip, cleft alveolar, as well as nasal deformity, that facilitated a lot her son’s surgical repairs and achieved a good result.  Mrs. Chu shared that her daughter's successful lip revision and rhinoplasty that brought her a normal face. Two young men shared respectively the correction of nasal bone deficiency problem and how orthodontic treatment helped to correct underbite problem.  After the lectures, the five doctors also answered questions from many parents, which benefited everyone a lot.  A total of 85 people attended the event that day.

High-quality plastic reconstructive surgery can help to change the lives of children with microtia and cleft defects, making their appearance after surgery close to normal!  HKACLP hopes to increase parents’ understanding of the treatment of microtia and cleft anomalies by holding medical symposium, so that they will know how to choose the most appropriate public treatment services and help children take the first step to rehabilitation.

At the same time as during medical symposium was held, HKACLP also placed some display boards on site to introduce the types of cleft lip and palate, the difficulties faced by patients, public hospitals’ treatment services for citizens and visitors to view.

Adults’ Consultation for Secondary Cleft Treatment

Adult patients who suffer from secondary cleft deformities, such as dented mid-face, teeth underbite & chewing problem, dental problem, abnormal appearance of lip and nose …  They may feel very embarrassed and awkward.   They may also be susceptible to bullying, isolation, discrimination … They hope to seek for secondary lip & nose surgical revisions, orthodontic treatment, and jaw surgeries to improve lip & nose appearance & function, teeth bite, speech, eating and social life. 

The Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Department at Queen Mary Hospital, Kwong Wah Hospital and Tuen Mun Hospitals providing a full range of professional cleft treatments, particularly secondary lip and nose revisions for adult patients, to help them eliminate facial differences and thus help them to integrate into society.  If the patients also have teeth underbite problems, he may receive orthodontic treatment and jaw surgery to correct the deformities.  HKACLP provides information on secondary cleft treatment, pre-surgery preparation, post-operative care and follow-up treatments helping the patients to recover easily and smoothly.

Links:

• HKACLP Official Website

2024 Community Educational Exhibition

The association's 2024 Community Educational Exhibition was held on 2/6 in the basement of Kowloon City Plaza. This community educational exhibition was assisted by the MTR Volunteer Team and we held a preparatory meeting in advance.  On the day of the educational exhibition, a total of 10 volunteers from the MTR Volunteer Team participated and were responsible for 4 pure game stalls. The association is responsible for five educational booths, including: the Journey of Cleft Treatment, Cleft Lip Babies’ Transformation, Ways to Get Along with the Patients, Incorrect Behaviours, Quiz Games, Exhibition Boards, Wishing Tree, TV Wall playing HKACLP’s promotional video, and distribution of cute balloons and leaflets.

The participants at the venue were very enthusiastic then. The children enjoyed very much the interesting games and there were often long queues in front of the booths.  There were also a Wishing Tree for the people to write their own wishes on a memo and stick it onto the Wishing Tree.  Besides, the well-designed exhibition boards also attracted many citizens to stay and view.  

The event was going on smoothly throughout the afternoon.  It was ended in happy atmosphere and each of the child got some small gifts to bring home.  We hope that through community educational exhibitions, the public can learn more about cleft lip and palate anomalies and the needs of patients, so as to enhance social inclusion.

Life Education Activities at Schools for2024-26

Since cleft lip & palate deformities are on the face, the patients, no matter where to go and who to meet, he has to show his face at the first instance, never can he hide away the facial defects.  It is very embarrassing for those patients who have their cleft lip badly repaired that resulted in obvious crooked and asymmetrical lips and noses.  So they are prone to attract strange looks, rejection, isolation, discrimination, and even bullying at school.

Therefore, since 2004, HKACLP has been conducting every year life education activities in middle schools as well as primary schools in various districts of Hong Kong.  During each life education activity, there will be a host introducing cleft lip and palate deformities and HKACLP's services by means of PowerPoint presentation.  Besides, there will be question and answer session, and also the patient’s/parent’s sharing on cleft problems and long term treatment with the photos showing different stages of growth.  

Though the educational activities, the teachers and students in the school may understand the feelings of the patients and family members, thereby promoting their acceptance and care for the patients, and to achieve harmony and integration on the campus.

Prenatal & Postnatal Support for the Mothers

Senior parents who have cared for their cleft lip and palate children for many years so they have become true experts in raising the affected children.  To the new parents, the senior parents’ experience is very useful and valuable which make them feel worry-free and at ease during the long journey of treatment.  Therefore, we recruited a number of these senior parents and trained them to be helpers to the new parents.

In order to enable pregnant mothers to receive assistance as early as possible, after their first contacts with HKACLP, we assign senior volunteer parents to provide ready help and support to them in the form of "one volunteer to one family". The tasks of these senior volunteer parents’ are:

• Share experiences, feelings and strategies for coping with the treatment with new parents;

• Reduce new parents’ loneliness, hesitation, distress, depression and anxiety;

• Improve new parents’ skills in caring for their children to cope with challenges;

• To broaden the knowledge of new parents about cleft lip and palate treatment services so that they can seek the most appropriate treatment for their children;

• Encourage new parents to help their children face treatment actively.

We hope to help every affected baby receive due caretaking and quality surgeries so that they can have the best rehabilitation.                                                                                                     

Links:

• HKACLP Official Website