With a combined experience of 117 years in practice and 92 volunteer missions among them, you would think our four surgeons had seen it all. A four-year old boy came through our clinic with what must be quite a rare condition. He was born with two vertical columns of tissue between the floor of his mouth and his palate that effectively locked his tongue from moving freely. This severely restricted his ability to eat and speak.
This obviously piqued everyone's interest. Once the patient was under anesthesia, the four surgeons each took a look and collaborated on a plan. Dr. Schepel would use the tissue to close the palate in two layers. This turned out to be very useful since the size of the cleft would have been difficult to close without having the excess tissue to use. I photographed each stage of the operation for use in future medical discussions.
The docs won't know how successful the procedure was until the post op clinic next week, but with 117 years of knowledge behind it, the young boy certainly got the best treatment available. Thanks to Rotaplast and every one of its donors and volunteers that make these missions possible.
Jerry Meshulam, Photojournalist