Mr Sommerlad, CLEFT Chairman and plastic surgeon, has been making his annual visit to Sohag, a very poor city in upper Egypt where senior doctors earn just £200 a month. Despite the low salaries, these dedicated doctors are determined to produce a high quality cleft and craniofacial centre. This annual visit is an opportunity to train surgeons and for Mr. Sommerlad to see new patients with the Sohag cleft team.

Fares was a little 5 month old boy with a bilateral cleft lip operated on during this recent visit, pictured above with his mother after surgery. Another patient seen by Mr Sommerlad is Sara, one of twins with cleft lip and palate. They have a condition known as van der Woude syndrome (where a cleft may be associated with pits in the lower lip) and their father also has this syndrome. Her speech was poor and she had an operation to re-repair her palate.