Oct 2, 2009 7:42 pm US/Eastern
Ohio Infants Undergo Facial Surgery In New York
By KAREN BROWN, CBS 2 HD News
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Doctors in New York performed life-changing surgery on two young girls Friday. The infants from Ohio had tumors on their faces, which for their parents was a cause for concern both physically and emotionally.
For 1-year-old Anna Penrod and 5-month-old Skylar Vandegrift, life is about to change.
"You feel like your child is the only child that's going through something like this," said Danielle Vandegrift, Skylar's mother.
The families came from Ohio to Roosevelt Hospital for surgery to remove the large red tumors on their faces. The benign tumors are called "hemangiomas."
"They are vascular tumors made up of blood vessels," said Dr. Milton Wanter, a Pediatric Facial Plastic Surgeon at the hospital.
In time, they can shrink on their own, but that can take more then a decade. That's why Anna's and Skylar's parents wanted to act now.
"It probably won't go away by the time she is 3 or 4, and that's when she's school aged and we're just really concerned about what other kids say," said Molly Penrod, Anna's mother.
During a two hour surgery, Dr. Waner removed the hemangiomas then rearranged the tissue and restored the cheek. He has to be very careful not to cut any nerves.
"We have a way of mapping the nerves on the surface of the skin," he said.
A key advantage to doing surgery now, when the girls are so young, is that there can be less scarring.
"Children have lots of stem cells, they heal much quicker than we do and much better than we do," Waner said.
Skylar came through surgery with a great prognosis, and no permanent nerve damage.
"Very happy, excited that she is going to be able to smile pretty and that she will be able to live a normal life," said Matt Vandegrift, Skylar's father.
As will Anna.
The sutures will be removed next week and then the healing begins as does a new chapter for the little girls. Dr. Waner says in about six weeks, the wounds will look better and will keep getting better for the next 18-months.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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