Saturday 28 / September / 2024
Muscat: A year ago, little Al Baraa would never have dreamed of posing happily for a photograph.
Today, the little angel is happy to pose – and play – after a life changing operation saved her from a one-in-a-million birth deformity.
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Three-year-old Al Baraa had her jawbone rebuilt with titanium implants to correct the birth defect.
The condition also left her with a drooping expression and an extra ear on her right cheek.
A resident of Farhad village in Oman, Al Baraa had been existing on a liquid diet as she could not chew solid food. “She used to survive on juices, milk and water, but after the surgery she has started taking solid food and now eats practically everything along with us,” her delighted father Salim Rashid Al Saadi said.
Doctors said she was suffering from a rare condition -Agenesis of the Mandible – which left her unable to eat properly.
“Earlier, she was also facing difficulty in breathing,” her father said, adding that three more surgeries are planned – cosmetic surgery and two throat surgeries.
Salim, who works in a private firm in Muscat, said the additional operations would be carried out in six months’ time, to allow the toddler to rest and heal.
“We want her to fully recover as soon as possible,” he said, speaking from the family home, near Tiwi village. Dr Vivek Soni, a maxillofacial surgeon at Fortis Hospital, Mumbai, who conducted the surgery, said she was born with the rare deformity, with the right side of her jaw missing.
“This case is unique as its incidence is extremely rare. It occurs in one among a million patients,” he said.
The deformity is called “Agenesis of the Mandible” and is a congenital (by birth) deformity, which is a rare occurrence in itself. “She had the ramus and the condyle (portions) of her jaw missing—these parts help in chewing, facial growth and give shape to the face,” Soni said.
Through the surgery, doctors have achieved proper occlusion (meeting of the jaws in perfect position to enable chewing) because of the titanium reconstruction of the mandible. “This surgery not just helped her chew again, but also corrected the abnormal muscle pull helping the child have a symmetrical face,” he said.
The extra ear also made the treatment more complex.
Through an X-ray and a 3D CT-Scan, doctors found that her deformity was very severe. “After hours of surgery, a titanium plate was inserted in her jaw and the additional ear was removed,” doctors said.
Soni added that the child is doing very well and should be attending school soon. “The family is happy as the child is now able to eat properly and her face has become symmetrical. They have returned to Oman after the operation,” he added.
Salim also thanked the Ministry of Health, Oman, for covering their expenses in India. “A panel of doctors saw her before she was airlifted to India,” he added.
