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Dealing with children’s facial defects is the daily mission of a pediatric maxillofacial surgeon Oleh Holubchenko from Kyiv. Over the years of hard work, he has helped many young patients fix what prevents them from living a normal life and feeling as beautiful and confident as their peers.
“I like surgery, aesthetics, and reconstruction. Currently, I work with pediatric maxillofacial surgery. My specialty is congenital defects of the face, head and neck. I deal with children with cleft lip, cleft palate, underdeveloped parts of the face, jaw, ear, nose, certain deformities and defects. We can fix all of this,” says Oleh Holubchenko.
Usually, the first surgery takes place at 4–5 months, the next one is closer to 11 months, and another surgery in a year. The recovery process is gradual.
“Then there is observation, correction, speech production, formation of the upper jaw, facial proportions. Deformities may occur, because everyone heals differently, it is a biological process. Then other doctors, such as a dentist, are involved in the treatment,” highlights the doctor.
Children can return to the hospital over time. When they get older, they need to make additional corrections. Thus, doctors often accompany them up to the age of 18.
“Parents have different attitudes towards facial defects in their children. For some, it's a tragedy that a child is born differently than everyone else.”
However, according to the doctor, most parents are conscious. They understand that such defects are treated, operated on, monitored, and that they can live with it. And in general, the rehabilitation is satisfactory.
Facial defects, nervous children, frightened parents. These are the conditions in which oral and maxillofacial surgeons work. They have to not only surgically restore, but also monitor and support them in the future.
With a team of psychologist, speech therapist, orthodontist, otolaryngologist and surgeon, the doctors work together to help the patient and support the parents. They advise on how to prepare for the surgery and how to take care of the child after.
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Problems arise when parents come late. Knowing about the defect, they delay for various reasons: they are afraid, they think it will get better, or feel sorry for the child.
“In such cases, I don't know how to behave properly. I feel sorry for the child, I understand that he or she has come for treatment, but parents need to be more conscious. Once a defect is detected, they should immediately start the process of analysis and then consult doctors,” says Oleh.
The work evokes a lot of emotions. Sometimes they are sad, and sometimes — joyful. But you need to be adequate and critical of each emotion, of each case.
“Usually, when the operation is performed and patients come for follow-up examinations, I am satisfied with the results of my work. I am calm. I see a smiling child, parents are happy. It makes me happy. Sometimes I even think, 'I did it, didn't I? It is a very cool job,’” emphasizes the doctor.
“When parents come to the stage of pregnancy, it shows that they are aware. And this is very good. Ultrasound doctors do screenings, and at nine weeks, it is already possible to detect a facial defect in utero. And this helps understand what kind of defect it is, what to do with it, how to prepare for it,” says Oleh.
The deformity and appearance of a child is only an external sign, but there is a need for vital correction of defects, because, if it is an infant, the child, for example, cannot eat normally.
“Often parents come to the consultation already prepared. They have bought a special plaster to restrain the deformity, they bring special hooks, and advise me on how to feed the child better. This motivates me, because such parents will follow up, they will do everything in their power, both before and after the operation.”
The awareness of parents determines whether they will follow the recommendations, and this determines how the wounds will heal.
To ensure positive outcomes, it is important to identify defects at an early stage and always educate parents.
This story has been developed by WHO Ukraine in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and with financial support from the European Union and within the Universal Health Coverage Partnership.