Sephora's Operation Smile completes 1,000 surgeries
Sephora’s latest Operation Smile campaign was launched on September 7, 2017, when volunteers and specialists arrived in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture to help children suffering from cleft lip and palate.
It was Sephora’s fifth surgical collaboration with Future Smile Charitable Foundation in rural China since 2015. This time, a total of 105 patients were screened and 75 patients went through surgeries.
Cleft lip and palate occurs in about 1 to 2 per 1,000 newborns in the developed world. In China, approximately one in every 600 babies is born with cleft lip and palate.
Cleft lip and cleft palate, also known as orofacial cleft, are birth defects that can happen both separately or together. The former is an opening in the upper lip that may extend into the nose on one side, or both sides or even in the middle. A cleft palate is where the roof of the mouth contains an opening into the nose.
These disorders can result in feeding problems, speech problems, hearing problems and frequent ear infections. That is, they are not only disfiguring but also prevent the children from talking or eating properly.
The condition is sometimes associated with other disorders.
A cleft lip or palate can be treated successfully with surgery. However, a surgery can cost an entire year’s income in some impoverished regions.
Sephora’s Operation Smile project aims to help children with cleft lip and palate who cannot afford the cost of treatments.
The medical experts from home and abroad came from various prominent hospitals and voluntarily worked from 7am to almost 12 or more hours every day.
They handled as many children as possible so as to give them a chance of a better life.
The Sephora volunteers provided help to the doctors by coordinating and maintaining communications inside and outside the operating rooms.
While performing surgery, doctors were also assisted by the volunteers in areas such as medical photogrammetry, compiling medical records, translating between surgeon and anesthetist and with patients in the recovery room, as well as providing psychological guidance to the treated children.
The specialists and volunteers started their trip to Ganzi in Sichuan Province on September 7.
This was their fifth surgical operation in China after previous trips to Ziyang, Dejiang, Ya’an and Luzhou since 2015.
Hundreds of children suffering from cleft lip and palate had check-ups and those selected through the screening process had surgeries and other appropriate treatments over five days starting from September 8 to 12.
During the visit to Ganzi, the 1,000th operation of the Operation Smile project was successfully carried out on September 12.
This memorable number brought more encouragement and stronger belief in the meaningful Operation Smile project of love and beauty, giving them hope for another and even more thousands to be recorded in the future operations.
Sephora, as a worldwide leading cosmetics retailer, aims to help everyone feel more beautiful so that their beauty power can be turned on with love and engagement to all.
They contribute to helping those young people suffering from cleft lips and palates gain the most beautiful smiles, and are also appealing for more attention from the public. To further extend the power of love, special charity products are on sale.
The profits from the sale will be used for the treatment for cleft lip and palate.
