Craniofacial surgery

Craniofacial surgery is a subset of plastic surgerythat deals with congenitaland acquired deformitiesof the skull, face, and jaws. Although craniofacial treatment often involves manipulation of bone, craniofacial surgery is not tissue-specific, i.e., craniofacial surgeonsdeal with bone, skin, muscle, teeth, etc. Craniofacial surgery does not, however, include surgery of the brain or eye.

Paul Tessier, a Frenchsurgeon, is generally regarded as the "father" of the field of craniofacial surgery. He presented the correction of several disorders involving the orbitsat an ophthalmologyconference in Romein 1967. This presentation ushered in the modern era of craniofacial surgery.

Defects typically treated by craniofacial surgeons include craniosynostosis (isolated and syndromic), rare craniofacial clefts, acute and chronic sequellae of facial fractures, cleftlip and palate, micrognathia, and many others.

Craniofacial surgeons usually spend a year training in this discipline after completing plastic surgery training. There presently is no separate certification in this area.

External links

Journal of Craniofacial Surgery
International Society of Craniofacial Surgery
Information on craniofacial surgery

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craniofacial+surgery Wikipedia article Craniofacial surgery.