Miguel is a baby who came in to the Iowa Miles of Smiles Team for screening who is 8 months old and had been given cleft lip surgery at an extremely early age and the repair failed. Now that Miguel is older and more physiologically able to recover from surgery, the team decided to undertake the repair.
Miguel was an especially happy baby who was instantly loved by everyone around him. We enjoyed his smiles and many of the team members and other families took turns holding him.
Dr. Brian Andrews performed cleft lip surgery, which was made more challenging because it involved undoing the original surgery and reconnecting tissues. Dr. Andrews said it turned out well and after surgery it was immediately apparent to all of us how good Miguel’s lip look and what a beautiful repair job Dr. Andrews did. Mom and dad were beaming.
While Miguel was under anesthesia, Dr. Dan Jorgensen put tubes in. He notes that because Miguel also has a cleft palate, he’ll need to come back again for additional screenings for ears, as well as a cleft palate repair in the future. As is often the case with the kids and their families here for procedures, we built a connection with the family in the days we spent together. The team retains patient contact information so we can notify families when we are back in Huehuetenango and we all hope to see this sweet baby and his very loving parents again!
