Craniofacial Development and Anomalies

In the past, children with craniofacial anomalies were stigmatized because of their craniofacial features when, in fact, they were often of normal intelligence. The advent of craniofacial surgery techniques, although far from perfect, offer these children a chance of obtaining a more normal facial appearance and opportunity to grow develop and integrate socially with their peers. The application of newer techniques to craniofacial surgery, including endoscopic surgery and osteodistraction, is expected to offer improved results with fewer complications. Distractive osteogenesis has yielded promising results in the cranium and mid face.The real future of children with craniofacial anomalies however lies in the malformation hands of the molecular geneticists. The advances in this field have allowed for the identification of the gene and associated mutation for several anomalies. Ultimately, the ability to genetically screen for these DNA mutations will allow for appropriate family counselling and perhaps, in the future, gene therapy for the correction of the mutation.