Patrick Byrne, M.D., director of facial plastic and reconstructive surgery, and his team.

Patrick Byrne has given lots of kids something to smile about. Each year, he takes a team of volunteers from Hopkins and other area hospitals — all pay their own way — to Ecuador to perform surgery on underprivileged children. The trips are organized by the non-profit Ecuadent Foundation. A Hopkins otolaryngologist and facial plastic surgeon, Byrne spends most of his weeklong trip repairing cleft lips and cleft palates — surgeries that have "the maximum impact for the minimum risk," he says. Byrne estimates that he's performed as many as 140 surgeries since he started these trips four years ago. "I [have been] so pumped up to help as many kids as possible that I probably overworked the staff," he says. This surgery spares children from a lifetime of difficulty breathing, eating, and speaking — and helps put an end to their feeling self-conscious about the way they look. Says Byrne, "The experience — when you hand this kid back to their mom, and sometimes the moms don't recognize the kid at first, and then they start smiling and crying and hugging you — it's just wonderful. It's awesome."

The 32-year-old patient had suffered a devastating malignancy in her nasal septum. What the cancer had not disfigured, repeated operations to rid her of the disease had. One of her cheekbones and one eye socket were missing. So was a significant portion of her nasal bone. With nothing to support them, her eye and nose flopped down to her mouth. To read more, please click here

New Survey Reveals Dramatic Rise in “Aging Face” Surgical Procedures Including Facelifts

Survey also finds a Rising Trend in Non-Surgical Procedures in Patients under Forty
NEW YORK – Baby boomers do not seem to be content to grow old gracefully according to a new survey by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS). Rhytidectomy surgeries (facelifts) have increased almost by 50 percent in the United States, a trend which shows more Americans are continuing to have invasive cosmetic facial plastic surgeries. On the younger end of the spectrum, the AAFPRS membership survey also pointed to a growing trend of patients forty years old and younger who are seeking to improve or enhance their appearance by non-invasive procedures.

“A significant trend highlighted from this survey shows the high increase in facelifts – which could be attributed to the fact that a baby boomer turns 50 years old every eight seconds. In addition, last year we saw more women, especially women under forty, flocking to facial plastic surgeons for many non-surgical procedures ranging from filler injections to chemical peels,” says Dr. Keith LaFerriere, president of the AAFPRS. “It appears that the growing popularity of cosmetic surgery has been heightened due to the increased media exposure it has garnered on primetime television, including programs like ABC’s “Extreme Makeover.”

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