Plastic Surgery in Children with Down Syndrome

The most affected portion with which the children having down syndrome suffers is the facial features.

Condensed nasal bridge including extra skin at the inside corners of the eyelids and the oblique eye openings rather straight are some of the main difficulties experienced by these children.

Flattened mid facial area and the downturned lower lip and an analytical tongue with an open mouth are some of the other difficulties which are faced by children having Down syndrome.

In 1970, there was an invention of plastic surgery by a group of experienced physicians and surgeons who perform these surgeries on these children and change their facial characteristics.

Plastic surgery was classified into two sections like:-

• Plastic surgery is executed to decrease the tongue’s size and the inhalation of the mouth.
• Plastic surgery was also executed to enhance the position of the face which is well recognized as facial reconstruction.

Tongue Reduction

Children having prophetic tongue along with an open mouth are usually recommended this type of plastic surgery as this condition arises due to Down syndrome and very common in the early upbringing age of the children. Children experience from this condition because of several causes like:-

• A smaller than normal oral cavity
• A scarcity of muscle pitch of the tongue
• Swelling of the portion of the tongue that is situated below the tonsils

This type of plastic surgery is also recognized as a partial glossectomy in which a mass of a tongue is removed to make it undersized or tiny.

After this surgery, the children can breathe properly and eat the food by keeping their mouth shut. In this way, their speech simplicity is also enhanced. Some children suffering from Down syndrome notice some improvements and some observe no improvement.

Facial Reconstruction

Facial reconstruction plastic surgery is performed to enhance the position of the face. Some of the facial reconstruction surgery procedures performed on children having Down syndrome include:-

• Invigorating of the nasal bridge
• Incomplete resection of the tongue
• Making the palpebral gaps more straight
• Inserting implants in the zygomatic bones
• Elimination of fat from the neck
• Rectification of the down-turned lip
• Eliminating the epicanthal folds

Parents play an important role in the life of the children and after seeing the optimistic outcomes of the facial reconstruction plastic surgery, they make a decision that whether their child suffering from Down syndrome should adopt this plastic surgery or not. Some of the surveys indicate that the children who suffer from Down syndrome found no improvement in their outlook.

Conclusion

All the plastic surgeries should be done on children with the approval of the parents. The parents should assemble all the essential details about the plastic surgeon before allowing their children suffering from Down syndrome to have the plastic surgery.