The Texas Children’s plastic surgery team is one of the few in the nation to perform distraction osteogenesis surgery, a procedure that corrects developmental problems in the face. The conditions may be congenital or isolated growth problems that become apparent as the child’s face develops.

• Distraction surgery offers new hope for children with serious facial abnormalities that affect the movement of their facial features, speech, breathing and swallowing.
• Children with facial abnormalities, such as an underdeveloped jaw, have trouble eating, talking and even smiling. Distraction surgery corrects these abnormalities, and surgeons often notice a significant boost in self-esteem for patients who undergo the procedure.
• Distraction has applications to any birth defect of the major bones of the lower jaw, upper jaw, the skull and the cranium. The primary use is on the lower jawbone; however, as experience grows and technology improves, the procedure will become more common in other areas of the face.
• Distraction is a painless process that gradually lengthens a child’s jaw and soft tissue by allowing additional bone growth to occur. The technique also can be used to position bones in the jaw, face and skull.
• Texas Children’s specialists treat patients with a multidisciplinary approach, including the care of the plastic surgeon, oral surgeon, speech therapist, orthodontist, pediatrician and psychologist.
• The hospital was one of the first in the nation to offer the surgery, and the Texas Children’s plastic surgery team has performed distraction on more than 50 patients.
• Texas Children’s surgeons are in the first generation of specialists performing distraction, and trained with the surgeon who created the procedure.
• Texas Children’s surgeons work directly with the company that designs the distraction device to continuously improve technologies.