Why might a child need plastic surgery?

If your little one was born with a deformity or has an injury, illness or tumour, a paediatric plastic surgeon can help. Here, leading London craniofacial and paediatric plastic surgeon Mr Juling Ong explains what you can expect and what recovery is like if your little one does need to have a surgical procedure.

What are the common reasons for a child to need plastic surgery?

Fortunately, most children are healthy. As a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, I diagnose and treat children with a surprising variety of rare conditions. These are often appearance-related such as birthmarks, or vascular anomalies, and my specialist interest is in helping children with deformities of the face and head.
 

What is involved in children’s plastic surgery and how does it differ from adults?

Children are not small adults! The human body changes a great deal as it grows and develops through childhood and adolescence. This process is not just physical, but also psychological and social.

Disease in childhood and adolescence can result in physical, academic and social scars that are carried throughout life. My mission is to help every child achieve their full life potential by reducing this burden of disease.
 

What is recovery like for a child?

Children usually recover more quickly from surgery than adults, but there are many things that can be done to make this as smooth as possible. Recovery is an integral part of the whole treatment journey and needs to be tailored to each child from the very first consultation.

I consider the age, stage of development, knowledge of the condition and all the options for treatment in planning for each child. If a child needs more intensive support, I will call on play and anxiety specialists to ensure that any trip to the hospital is as much fun as possible.

 

Mr Ong specialises in vascular malformations, birthmarks, facial reconstruction and facelift. You can book an appointment for you and your child to visit him via his Top Doctor’s profile here.