Inside Children's Hospital: The Craniofacial Center

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By By KOMO Staff

Summary

Busiest clinic rebuilds kids' faces -- and their self-esteem.

Story Published: Feb 2, 2001 at 3:25 AM PDT

Story Updated: Aug 31, 2006 at 12:25 AM PDT

Inside Children's Hospital: The Craniofacial Center
SEATTLE - Last month, Child magazine named Seattle's Children's Hospital the third best pediatric care facility in the country. That's quite an honor for a hospital that impacts thousands of Puget Sound area families each year. KOMO 4 News anchor Dan Lewis visited Children's recently to provide a glimpse at what makes it one of the country's finest hospitals. Here's his special report on Children's busiest clinic.

At 9 a.m., the Craniofacial Center is already crowded.

It's the busiest clinics in Children's Hospital and represents one of the largest craniofacial centers in the country.

"We certainly have more people in our program than anybody else," says Dr. Michael Cunningham, the center's director. "And I honestly feel that this craniofacial center is best in the country."

The clinic is held each Monday in wing 6H. A diverse team of 40 highly skilled specialists including neurosurgeons, plastic surgeons and dentists serve children who have a variety of head and facial malformations.

'It's Incredibly Draining'

From the moment the clinic opens at 9 until the last patient leaves after 5, there's rarely time for a break.

"I couldn't do this every day of the week," says Cunningham. "It would be impossible. It's incredibly draining. By the end of these days, we're all wiped out."

During the day, Cunningham and his team see patients with disorders ranging from common to rare.

"When a parent has a child born with a structural malformation, it is a devastating thing," Cunningham says while examining a month-old baby with a cleft lip and palate.

'Looks Beautiful'

Another visitor to the clinic this day is 9-month-old Sean Vincent of Marysville.

"His reconstruction looks beautiful," Cunningham says as he carefully examines the zig-zag surgical pattern that circles Sean's head from ear to ear.

Sean had reconstructive surgery two weeks ago to correct a rare condition that left him with a recessed forehead and no room for his brain to grow.

Cunningham reviews CT scans following the operation with Sean's mother Adria and shows her the extra room Sean's brain now has in the reconstructed skull.

'I Think That One Is Loose'

Later, Cunningham examines 2½-year-old Holley Carter of Puyallup, who's returned for a regular check-up. Holley had surgery about two years ago to correct a skull malformation.

Holley's mother Jenny complains about a bump on her daughter's head.

"It feels like a titanium screw," Cunningham says as he examines the bump on Holley's head. "And sometimes they can get a little loose. And I think that one is loose. I can kind of move it around.

"These screws are extremely shallow. They're only a couple of millimeters long. And they can take them out without any problem."

Treacher Collins Syndrome

Also among the 60-plus patients Cunningham and his team see this day is a 10-year-old-boy originally from Russia. Daniil Dovgopolyy now lives in Everett and has been a regular visitor to the clinic for seven years.

"Daniil was born with a condition called Treacher Collins Syndrome," says Cunningham. "It's manifest by abnormalities in the development of the upper jaw and the lower jaw as well as the external ear."

Cunningham chats with Daniil several minutes about the hearing aid he wears around his head. The tiny bits of tissue that serve as Daniil's ears will not support a hearing aid.

As a Russian translator interprets the conversation for Daniil's mother Galina, Cunningham talks to Daniil about the possibility of building a prosthetic ear.

'Perfectly Normal Children'

Repairing malformations like Daniel's ears is just one goal of the Craniofacial Center. The other is to improve the self-esteem of children who too often find themselves ridiculed or shunned.

"These children are just like every other child," says Cunningham. "I think that it's common to feel that if you see a child with a facial malformation that they're not normal cognitively. They don't have the same feelings as people who have normal faces.

"And I would say that the vast majority of kids that we've seen here today are perfectly normal children that have facial differences."

For More Information

Children's Craniofacial Center -- www.seattlechildrens.org
National Craniofacial Association -- www.faces-cranio.org
Child Magazine article on the country's top 10 pediatric hospitals -- www.childmagazine.com