The pain behind an imperfect smile

MANILA, Philippines - Pain is behind every imperfect smile as kids with cleft lips and palates face a childhood so different from what they truly deserve.

They are taunted and teased for the way they look. They are shunned on the playground and in school. Never will they experience a normal childhood without surgical intervention. They are scarred for life. They will forever live with an imperfect smile.

Happily, Operation Smile has been helping children and young adults around the world to get rid of the scars of facial deformities like a cleft palate or lip. Worldwide, it has helped 200,000 children. Operation Smile is in over 60 countries, including Cambodia, China, Egypt, India, Peru, Russia, Venezuela, Vietnam, and the Philippines, which is where the organization was founded 30 years ago.

In the Philippines, one in every 500 babies born every year has a cleft lip or palate. This means that 2,064 million out of the 4,004 children born every year do not have the chops to smile the way regular children can. Operation Smile has healed the pain of over 24,000 kids by perfecting their smiles.

Perfecting smiles involves not only surgical intervention to repair the cleft lip and palate. To perfect the smile, the healing must be taken a step further by erasing the marks or scars from surgery with innovative products like Dermatix Ultra.

Dermatix Ultra is the scar expert formulated with innovative CPX (cyclopentasiloane) technology, which can flatten and soften scars while providing vitamin C for photoprotection and skin lightening.

Dermatix is the scar formula recommended by plastic surgeons. It is easy to apply and safe to use even for children. It also has excellent cosmetic properties that lighten the scar and make it smooth.

With partnerships like Operation Smile Philippines and Dermatix Ultra, pain can be erased and the scars left by a cleft lip or palate will be a thing of the past.

To learn more about Operation Smile Philippines and opportunities to help, visit http://www.philippines.operationsmile.org.