Craniofacial surgery

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Craniofacial surgery is a subset of plastic surgery that deals with congenital and acquired deformities of the skull, face, and jaws. Although craniofacial treatment often involves manipulation of bone, craniofacial surgery is not tissue-specific, i.e., craniofacial surgeons deal with bone, skin, muscle, teeth, etc. Craniofacial surgery does not, however, include surgery of the brain or eye.

Paul Tessier, a French surgeon, is generally regarded as the "father" of the field of craniofacial surgery. He presented the correction of several disorders involving the orbits at an ophthalmology conference in Rome in 1967. This presentation ushered in the modern era of craniofacial surgery.

In September of 1997, the Accreditation Committee for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) recognized Craniofacial Surgery as subspecialty of Plastic Surgery.

The ACGME official definition of the specialty states that "Craniofacial surgery is a subspecialty of plastic surgery that includes the in-depth study and reconstructive treatment of disorders of the soft and hard tissues of the face and cranial areas, such as congenital anomalies and posttraumatic and other acquired conditions."

The length of the educational program in craniofacial surgery is one year. Admission to a craniofacial surgery educational program is open to those who have satisfactorily completed an accredited plastic surgery residency program or to other appropriately-qualified surgeons. This includes graduates of an accredited program in Neurological Surgery, Otorhinolaryngology, Ophthalmic Surgery, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (with the MD Degree) and General Surgery.

Defects typically treated by craniofacial surgeons include craniosynostosis (isolated and syndromic), rare craniofacial clefts, acute and chronic sequellae of facial fractures, cleft lip and palate, micrognathia,Treacher Collins Syndrome, Apert's Syndrome, Crouzon's Syndrome, hemifacial microsomia and many others.

Craniofacial surgeons usually spend a year training in this discipline after completing plastic surgery training. There presently is no separate certification in this area.

[edit] Ethical Considerations

The Hastings Center (a prominent bioethics research institute) conducted a project called "Surgically Shaping Children". The project produced an edited volume (Parens, 2006) which considers plastic surgery on children with craniofacial anomalies, ambiguous genitalia, and achondroplasia.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

Parens, E., Ed. (2006). Surgically Shaping Children : Technology, Ethics, and the Pursuit of Normality. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-8305-9.