1,000 new smiles for children with cleft lips, palates

By Li Xiaohua
0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, September 20, 2017
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Cleft lip and palate are commonly seen congenital facial deformities, and, in China, one of every 600 newborns is afflicted in this way.

A Tibetan boy being screened for the cleft lip and palate surgery in Ganzi on Sept. 8, 2017. [Photo by Li Xiaohua / China.org.cn]

A Tibetan boy being screened for the cleft lip and palate surgery in Ganzi on Sept. 8, 2017. [Photo by Li Xiaohua / China.org.cn]



The surgery to repair this disfigurement is a small but advanced procedure. Yet, many children are denied it due to poverty and the prevailing medical conditions in the areas where they were born.

That means they face an entire lifetime of disfigurement, forming not only a physical but a deep mental wound for those afflicted.

This is where the “Operation Smile” program of cosmetic giant SEPHORA enters the picture, driven by a belief that innocent children should not have to accept this very curable blight on their prospects.

On Sept. 7, 2017, after a tedious 11-hour journey over bad roads, SEPHORA volunteers and specialists from famous hospitals both domestic and foreign arrived at Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (also known as Garzê in Tibetan) in southwest China’s Sichuan Province.

It marked SEPHORA China’s fifth collaboration with Future Smile Charitable Foundation since 2015 to begin the healing process for young people suffering from cleft lips and palates.

Ganzi was the fifth port of call after previous programs undertaken in the cities of Ziyang, Ya’an and Luzhou in Sichuan Province as well as Dejiang in neighboring Guizhou Province.

The fifth journey

After the previous program in Luzhou, medical staff and volunteers, without pause, began preparing for the move to Ganzi. From Sept. 8-12, a total of 105 patients were screened and 75 were deemed ready for surgery.

Domestic and international experts from leading hospitals are fighting this battle against disfigurement with total dedication. The ward round begins at 7 a.m. and the last operation is usually completed around 9 p.m. There’s hardly time for them to stop for a meal.

SEPHORA and volunteers from Future Smile Charitable Foundation did their best to maintain communication and good order inside and outside the operating theater. To ensure efficient operations, they assisted doctors with medical photogrammetry, child psychological guidance, compiling accurate medical records, and serving as translators from the operating table to the recovery room, among other tasks.

The 1,000th smile

By 9 p.m. on Sept. 12, the doctors had been working for about 11 hours straight. At this time of night, they were checking the child again and again after the last stitch had been inserted before finally calling it a day.

The anesthetized child was sleeping quietly on the operating table, knowing little of the brighter future, indeed the normal life, that awaited her once she fully recovered.

This particular operation was significant as it was creating the 1,000th perfect smile under the ongoing program.

Perhaps 1,000 doesn’t sound like a very big number, but it’s merely the start. The program will surely be expanded and its benefits brought to an increasing number of rural communities.

In hopes that more people will join the “Operation Smile” program, SEPHORA is launching a limited-edition lip balm. Proceeds from sales of the new product will be donated to help more children with cleft lips and palates.

Every customer buying this new item will know that they are contributing to a wonderful program that helps needy youngsters escape from their birth defects to live happy and normal lives.

So far, 1,000 children have been helped and had their lives changed. SEPHORA aims to help everyone feel more beautiful so that their beauty power can be passed on with love and engagement to all.

NOTE: Sephora is a worldwide leading cosmetics retailer that has been targeting China for a major market expansion. It now has 213 stories in 73 mainland cities.

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