FAQs

1 in every 700 babies is born with a cleft lip, cleft palate, or both.

Relying on the condition, the baby with cleft lip can receive nutrition right as they will be able to eat unproblematically. But, the baby born with cleft palate needs a special baby feeding bottle having special nipples as they will not be able to eat properly and cannot be breastfed.

In short, the baby will demand special assistance to eat normally and it can be achieved with the proper supervision and guidance of the pediatrician. In most cases, special feeding techniques are a necessity.

Most infants with cleft lip and palate tend to experience difficulty in speaking, talking, learning, and speech problems. To correct the condition, you must approach the speech pathologist, who will help the child in speech development. The child must be monitored, recurrently. The parents should not delay it and start the intervention timely.

If the child has no trouble talking, then all you need is to perform regular assessments to make sure the child is having no difficulty.

Not necessarily!

About 50% of children having clefts are born with both cleft lip and cleft palate. Where almost 25% are born with only the cleft lip, the remaining 25% of children are diagnosed with only cleft palate.

If the baby is born with an isolated cleft lip and/or palate, no evident physical and cognitive abnormalities will be diagnosed except speech-language delays. Once the cleft lip and/or palate is repaired significant improvement in reading and language-based deficiencies can be observed. But, do not forget to keep a close eye to have a regular check. 

On the contrary, the children born with cleft lip and/or palate are at a higher risk of mental and motor developmental delay

In case of having a small lower jaw (mandible) resulting in the restricted tongue position inside the throat that causes airway obstruction, Pierre Robin Sequence is preferably used for a diagnosis. 

It is a condition where the baby is born with an asymmetrical or uneven lower jaw/mandible that requires jaw surgery at the earliest of the age followed by ear reconstruction because microsomia is usually associated with irregularity or deformity of the ears. 

A medical condition severely affecting the head shape resulting in evident physical aberration due to early or untimely fusion of the skull bony plates. It can appear as a separate anomaly or can occur with other craniofacial abnormalities.

1 in every 2,500 babies is affected by this disease.

The most preferable and success-guaranteed surgery to treat cleft lip and palate is Craniofacial surgery. It is a reconstructive surgery to amend the head and skull, face, and associated musculoskeletal aberrations.

It is not only performed to correct the physical appearance but also to bring the functionality of the body’s parts to the normal.

The best time to perform the repairment surgeries for cleft lip and cleft palate is between the ages of 9-18 months, but it is advised not to delay it for more than 2 years. The reason to recommend the surgery so early is that the children will have faster recovery time.

The number of surgeries is totally dependent on the patient’s condition. At the least, two separate surgeries are required one for the lip and the other for the palate repair. But to make the lip look normal, several surgeries may be needed. 

If the child is facing speech or auditory problems, additional surgeries are carried out to improve the condition and avoid future complications.

As far as repair is concerned, cleft lip is repaired first once the child has come to 8 weeks of age, but the treatment is performed within 3-10 weeks after birth if the infant is healthy. Then the cleft palate is repaired within 10-12 months of age.

The method of surgery is chosen based on the client’s needs, severity, commodities, and anatomy. 

The maximum time required for the recovery after a repair surgery is several weeks under special care but close monitoring must be done for the initial several days. Remember, the child’s hand movements must be restricted.

The typical practice involves the use of general anesthesia during Cleft lip and palate surgery.

For a repair surgery of the cleft lip and palate, approximately 1-3hrs are required.

• Adverse anesthesia reactions
• Scarring
• Infection or sepsis
• Dehiscence (separation)
• Breathing issues
• Fistula
• Maxillary growth

For the cleft lip baby, breastfeeding is a healthy option to provide adequate nutrition. But babies having a cleft palate cannot be breastfed as they have suckling and sucking problems. 

The baby must start regaining weight after 2-3 weeks of age. You can check for the diapers to evaluate the healthy weight gain as if a baby is getting 5-6 diapers changed daily, he/she is perfectly healthy and is fed enough.

These are the face and skull defects that are present at birth affecting the physical appearance of the face, head, and skull due to bone aberration or deformity. To make the child look as normal as possible, several plastic or reconstructive surgeries are performed.

The most common types are Cleft lip and cleft palate. Other most common syndromes are craniosynostosis, hemangioma, and vascular malformation. 

Yes. But, only if they have received the correct and timely treatment!

With wide-ranging scientific and medical advancements, the treatment allows children to live a normal life with an active routine. In short, they can live a long productive life, once treated accordingly.

As far as the size is concerned VSD and ASD have never shown any signs of size hole enlargement. On the contrary, the hole can decrease in size leading to the natural closure. There are chances the child’s hole in the heart will close without treatment, but you will never see them getting bigger.

Truly speaking, ECG can help diagnose nearly all congenital heart defects or physical, functional, and anatomical issues of the heart muscle. It means, with ECG you can have a diagnosis but to confirm, you must perform other tests.

For repairing the hole in the heart, cardiac catheterization is performed to cover the hole permanently in the heart with the help of either a patch or a specifically tailored septal apparatus. The typical time required for the procedure to get completed is almost 3-4 hrs.

For the patient who has come with the minimum ASD size of ≤10 mm by TTE or TEE, the chances are high that surgery will be required.

Yes, surprising but it is true that until birth, holes for the atrium and arteries blood communication do exist. But, once the baby is born, they are closed at the earliest of the days or It will take a maximum of weeks.

This answer has its uncertainty!

On one side, most of the women with either small or a repaired hole (ASD or VSD) have shown positive and healthy pregnancy, with a small risk of heart-related issues. On the other side, having medium to large-sized, unclosed, or not repaired VSD can cause somewhat severe problems. The real solution is to get checked by the doctors and try maintaining the proper care to have a healthy pregnancy.

Truly speaking, NO ONE KNOWS!

How the VSD forms is a mystery but as science has advanced the major factors are considered genes as it is a congenital problem and environmental influences such as smoking or medication abuse.

Besides, VSD is seen commonly in children with comorbidities particularly hereditary, such as Down syndrome 

If you have a VSD that has been repaired, of small size or person has no commodities, no exercise limits will be applied. Although, you must discuss with your ACHD specialist before you start planning your physical activity.

Are you experiencing any heart or breathing issues (fast, too slow, irregular), elevated blood pressure, or have been diagnosed with any valve problems? Certain limits will be applied to avoid further complications.

With the help of Cell regeneration and Stem-cell therapy, blindness can be cured potentially, no matter at what stage your eye problem is. By using stem cells, fresh and new retinal cells’ growth followed by successful transplantation inside an eye replaces all those cells that you have lost and has led to your blindness.

Some types of blindness cannot be treated. Because everyone’s body has a restricted number and ability to repair nerve cells specified for healthy vision. Once dead, cells are irreplaceable

Apart from having laser surgery or wearing prescribed lenses for hyperopia, astigmatism, and myopia, no other specific treatment has been identified that can significantly bring back your vision to normal or healthy percentage.

Among all the major reasons, aging is definitely the one.

Remember, diabetic retinopathy is irreversible BUT if you have met the experienced retinal specialists, he/she can help you preserve and in most of the cases restore the vision. The typically used methods include direct medicine injection into the back of the eye, laser, and retinal surgery.

Only in the case of severe vision loss occurred due to eye internal bleeding or advanced diabetic retinopathy.

No, science has found no evidence, yet. Using contact lenses or wearing prescribed corrective glasses has shown no vision improvement. Lenses will not help you prevent myopia from worsening.

Unfortunately, YES!

It is a hereditary condition that could be passed down. In case of having either of the parents with a dominant gene for Retinitis Pigmentosa, offspring will have a 1 in 2 chance of receiving it. And, if both parents carry the RP recessive gene, the chances will be decreased to 1 in 4.

The simplest way is to “LIVE A HEALTHY LIFE”. Try the following guidelines:

• Quit smoking
• Stay active (physically)
• Manage your weight
• Take well-balanced diet
• Take care of the proven health issues
• Visit for a checkup regularly and complete your follow-ups

Science has advanced much but the safe approach for eye transplantation has not been discovered, yet. Only a part of the eyes called corneas can be successfully transplanted.

If you are asking permanently, the answer is NO. But, with a healthy diet, it can be managed well. the important nutrients are

• Vitamins especially E and A
• Healthy fats such as Omega-3
• Lutein and Zeaxanthin
• Anti-oxidants
• High Fiber foods

Simply explained as a result of a contractile wound-healing procedure that happens naturally, once a scar has been re-epithelialized and sufficiently healed. The skin is thickened, tightened, and pulled towards each other. 

The very first assessment should be based on airways followed by the breathing rate, blood circulation, possible physical disabilities, and degree of fire exposure. It helps you plan an effective fluid resuscitation approach. 

Yes, contractures are treatable. The best approaches practiced by the doctors include the use of medication, casting, and physical therapy based on stretching exercises to make the tissue more flexible.

Only if they are detected at their earliest before the skin thickness beyond normality and joint become immobilized completely. If the nurse recognizes the burn contracture once the joints have been limited to 45-degree movements, reversing a contracture seems challenging and will take several months or years in certain cases.

Listed from MOST to LEAST

• Elbow
• Ankle
• Knee
• Hip
• Shoulder

A thin and sleek skin layer obtained from another body part of the same person that is not burned is a skin graft placed over the badly scorched parts and held with the help of stitches, glue, or clips. It promotes healing and vascularization. The most common approach used to treat 3rd-degree burns.

Once you have receded your skin graft, it must be held with stitches, staples, clips, or special glue on the wound. For protection from germs and infection, the grafted skin is covered by a sterilized dressing. Further, 5 to 8 days are dedicated to developing a connection between new skin and surrounding blood supply.

Yes, it is a hereditary defect, in fact, one of the most common “birth defects” caused due to CSF fluid imbalance being getting absorbed and produced.

Annually, more than 10,000 babies have been diagnosed with hydrocephalus. We can say, 1 in every 500 newborns has hydrocephalus. 

Children born with brain bleeds due to premature birth, neural tube defects, brain tumors, sepsis or infection, and head trauma are at a higher risk of developing hydrocephalus. In the context of acquired hydrocephalus, it is usually caused by head injury or a brain obstruction.

Yes, very serious!

If not treated timely, it can get deadly and if you survive by using suitable treatment it is called arrested hydrocephalus. In case of receiving no treatment but survived the hydrocephalus, the patient will experience serious brain damage and multiple physical disabilities. 

If the patient is diagnosed and treated timely she/he will have a full life span. Or we can say, if the surgical procedure has been successfully performed on infants, the excessive brain fluid has been removed and has survived to age 1, they will not face a shortened life expectancy.

In adults, the size of the skull does not get any bigger and the pressure is built up inside. Whereas, in small children and infants, hydrocephalus results in the increase of head size accommodating the fluid buildup leading to slow developmental growth particularly affecting the facial formation and eye spacing.

• Headaches
• Hearing loss
• Muscular weakness
• Seizures
• Hormonal imbalances
• Nerve damage
• Impaired growth

No, hydrocephalus cannot be cured but can be managed. Such treatments help the patient live a fairly normal life. By treating the commodities and complications, the impacts of hydrocephalus can be minimized.

Typically, hydrocephalus is treated by draining out the extra fluid that has been accumulated leading to increased pressure through creating a surgical insertion for an efficient drainage system, known as a shunt. It is performed by inserting a long, stretchy tube having a valve inside the brain to suck the fluid out letting the brain work rightly and at the proper rate. All it takes is approximately 1-1.5 hrs.

Throughout life, 2-5 operations will be required in a typical child surgery. A number of surgeries is performed to maintain the shunt functions. In few less critical issues, only a single operation is required but depending on the severity numerous shunt revisions may be recommended in a year.

Typically, the patient is taken under 24hrs observation once the surgery is successfully completed. The patient stays in the hospital for a maximum of 2 to 4 days.

Whether the child’s physical exertion is limited or not, it totally relies on the patient’s age, severity, and symptoms. The parents are advised to consult a personal clinician about specific restrictions, or else, head trauma can worsen hydrocephalus.

By literal approach, “congenital” refers to a condition present at birth, “talipes” means foot and ankle, and “equinovarus” is related to the foot position either it is pointed downwards or turned inwards.

By Congenital Talipes Equinovarus, we mean club foot, a curable foot deformity, that negatively impacts the child’s rolling, sitting, crawling, walking, and running at typical stages. It is more common in boys and needs to be corrected immediately.

In most clubfoot cases, they are successfully cured completely without requiring surgery. The best approaches to treat clubfoot are stretching and reshaping the foot. The most commonly used technique is the Ponseti method

Take your newborn to the skilled pediatric orthopedic surgeon and a professional physiotherapist. The treatment will be started once a couple of weeks after birth is completed

Luckily, yes!

Once the infant is treated with casting the Achilles tendon is released. Casting is followed by the use of special boots and bar bracing to help the kid live a healthy normal life. After the treatment is completed, children will have pain-free and completely functional feet.

No matter, how strenuous treatment you have experienced, the clubfoot can relapse. Having stiffer and more severe clubfeet with small calf sizes is more vulnerable to relapsing. The one with the loose ligaments does not face the problem of relapse. Besides, once the child has crossed 4years of age, the chances of clubfoot coming back are rare.

After completing 6-8 weeks of casting, the feet must be held in the proper position with the help of FAB (foot abduction brace). And for the shoe potion, AFO (ankle-foot orthosis) is used.

For the primary 3months, the child is advised to wear the brace 23hrs/day and then only at night and or day napping times up to 4 years to make sure the correction holds.