Combating Facial injury, disfigurement and oral cancer in the most socially important part of our bodies – the face and mouth

The face is the only part of our body we cannot hide. It conveys our emotions and innermost feelings. We often judge each other on the basis of facial appearance, making assumptions on a whole range of issues.

People suffer the consequences of facial diseases, injuries and disfigurement every day. In Nepal oral cancer is second most common cancer in all population every year. The silent epidemic of road traffic injury (RTI) is the main cause to young people to sustain serious facial injuries and not many people receive treatment for facial disfigurement due to lack of trained manpower.

Despite the severity of these issues, this remains a much neglected research area leaving thousands of those unfortunate enough to be affected with little hope for the future. In Nepal not enough is known about facial disease, injury and deformity, their psychological and emotional impact and, critically, which treatments are most effective. The Craniofacial Centre Nepal is the only charity inNepal solely dedicated to the reduction and management of facial injuries and diseases. It is working to take the lead in education and research to improve the physical and psychological treatment of all victims of oral cancer and other facial diseases.

The Craniofacial Centre Nepal is a division of Orthopaedic and Trauma Foundation Nepal, a registered charity based at Janakpur region of Nepal. The charity mission is the brainchild of consultant Craniofacial Surgeon, Sunil Sah, who launched Craniofacial Centre to improve the quality of care in Nepal. Over the years Sunil and his colleagues from the UK came to realise that very little teaching, training and research was being conducted into the treatment of facial diseases such as oral cancer and that many of the facial injuries they saw everyday could be prevented through education. Sunil has linked British Association of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons and BPKIHS, Dharan for teaching and training for 5 years.

There are now more than 15 surgeons throughout Nepalcollaborating with a team of British, Indian and other international surgeons. Together they will carrying out work in areas such as the role of selective oral cancer treatment, the psychological factors in head and neck cancer, the prevention of smoking, chewing tobacco, pan, gutka and binge drinking amongst teenagers.

This collaborative approach enables our researchers to work with international institutions. In addition the surgeons will volunteer their services, former patients are also providing support to newly diagnosed patients and their families through a support network. The emotional and psychological impact of surgery is often just as traumatic as the procedure itself.

The centre is partly funded by institutional national and international donors but relies heavily on the day-to-day clinical activities. This centre is work as a no profit model and self-sustainable for long term stability. It will make a difference to the lives of thousands of people.At Centre we keep our administrative costs to a minimum so funding goes towards improved quality of care and the support of patients.