No one was quite sure when the doors of the cleft clinic in Dhaka would re-open but it is good news to learn now that the multi-disciplinary team are seeing patients again. 

     

The photos above were taken (with permission from the patient's family of course) of one little boy who was being examined for some research that CLEFT is funding into the likely causes of craniofacial clefts. Speech and language therapist, orthodontist, audiologist, research fellow, cleft coordinator and surgeon are all pictured here. 

This is a 12 month research project which is aiming to give surgeons and clinicians better understanding of the likely causes of craniofacial clefts. These are complex clefts that can affect the cheeks, forehead, eyes, eyebrows, nose and mouth. Children with craniofacial clefts require a specialised and long term course of treatment and many face additional complications, especially if they are not treated correctly. The impact on a child’s life as they grow is profound. It will affect the way they look, their eye sight, speech, hearing and dental development. It can leave deep psychological scars.  In the developing world, they may be malnourished and often, they will be social outcasts.

Work on this project has been made possible by the Gay and Keith Talbot Trust and through donations via the Big Give Christmas Campaign which took place in the first week of December 2020.