Zee Media Bureau/Shruti Saxena
New Delhi: Born with a rare disease, 18-month-old boy Noman Arshad got a new life when surgeons at a private hospital in Chennai operated him and corrected his facial deformity.
Born to Arshad Ali and Raziya Arshad, a couple from Pakistan, the toddler suffered from a disease called Tessier’s facial cleft type-4 defect, in which there is non-fusion of facial bones, which leads to facial clefts.
Because of his cleft, Noman did not have a left eye since his birth and his right eye was also damaged as the eyelids were absent.
After months of treatment in Pakistan, doctors referred him to see doctors in Chennai.
Dr Balaji of Balaji Dental and Craniofacial Hospital, was quoted saying to a leading daily: “In a procedure that lasted for four hours, we initially redirected the tears, which were pouring out due to the lack of eyelids, into the nose. Then we reconstructed his eyelids, palette and lip”.
“In six months we will perform another procedure to ensure bone growth, so the tissue around it can fuse well,” said the doctor.
The abnormality is seen in one in 100,000 live births.
