Rotaplast is known for conducting cleft lip and palate surgeries but the teams also do many other types of surgeries including surgery to reduce scarring and restricted movement because of burn scars, congenital anomalies such as syndactyly, trauma injuries, keloid scarring, hypospadias and many other conditions. As long as the team have the equipment needed and the surgery is safe and feasible a patient could potential receive free surgery through a Rotaplast mission.
For many missions the surgical team is all or mostly from the USA or Europe. but this mission was unique in having most of the surgeons coming from Egypt. This was a great opportunity to leverage local skilled surgeons enabling more surgeries to be done, as well as, share experience, techniques and approaches to treating cases. An added advantage in having local surgeons involved meant that all the pre-mission work that needs to be done before the team arrives – hospital selection, including clinic and operating room spaces available, government approvals, local logistics, reaching out and advertising the mission to patients, plus much more.
The Surgeons have scrubs and surgical gaps inscribed with logo of a child with a cleft lip with AGML written underneath. This is a local project to focus on raising awareness and reducing stigma concerning cleft lips and palates. Jamil (AGML) means beautiful in Arabic. Around the world there is often significant stigma for with children with cleft lips and /or palates which can significantly impact the lives of individuals and their families. Parents may face concerns about their child’s feeding difficulties and fear of social repercussions, including bullying. Societal beliefs, ranging from blaming parents to attributing it to supernatural forces, can contribute to this stigma.
Cleft lip and palate surgery complexity varies based on factors like the type and severity of the cleft, the child’s age, and the surgical technique used. Lip repairs are generally less complex than palate repairs, and bilateral clefts are more complex than unilateral clefts. Surgical techniques, including the timing of repair and the sequence of hard and soft palate closure, also influence complexity.
The surgeons involved in this mission are:
