I appreciate all of you who’ve followed my cleft lip and palate blogs over recent years. I'll continue to post info relevant to this most common of birth defects.I'm also grateful to those of you who've bought Cleft Heart: Chasing Normal about my experiences with my clefts regarding bullying, facial asymmetry, speech difficulties, etc.Since no good intentions or deeds ever go unpunished, I’m hoping you blog and book fans will consider giving copies of Cleft Heart to your doctor and dentist. Or … [Read more...]
Lookism: Dr. Oz’ age-reducing elixir?
We've all seen the lookism click-bait before and after shots, esp of celebrities. They try to get us to buy anti-aging products. One that's been getting a lot of attention lately is Parisian Glow cream that claims to have Dr. Oz's endorsement. I've printed excerpts from a recent Parisian Glow ad below. However, if you read that ad carefully, it really suggests only that Dr. Oz recommends Vitamin C, and maybe he has. Whether he's endorsed Parisian Glow or any other anti-aging product is still … [Read more...]
How countries rank re cleft lip & palate needs.
On a day when many of us see people around the world celebrating New Years on TV, I thought it appropriate to consider how cleft lip care resources vary around the world.There are many countries in the world where patients with cleft lip and palate cannot get access to specialized cleft repair. Flying surgeons and other types of cleft medical missions play an important role in providing surgical care to the areas of the world with limited resources. … [Read more...]
How can Santa make the Holidays happy? By delivering 3D printers for cleft lip surgery.
You may see Santa and his reindeer streaming thru the sky tonight or see them on those radar images TV newscasters use to chart his path from the North Pole. If so, let's hope that he's delivering 3-D printers which'll help countries around the world take better care of cleft lip and palate kids. 3D printers.What do I mean? Well, let me first describe how 3D printers work in case you're not familiar with this cutting-edge technology. According to one source, the first step in the printing of … [Read more...]
Lookism & the Resting Bitch Face, II.
This website is dedicated to the face— esp the disfigured, asymmetric, heroic, villainous, or foolish face. This means that the site and my blog take on some pretty interesting topics. In my blog two weeks ago, I raised the issue of the resting bitch face (RBF) and joked about choosing between a witch or a bitch face mask for Halloween. That would've meant putting frown and anger marks on one's face. Or getting a mask of one of the celebrities who claim (or others claim) to "suffer" from … [Read more...]
Cleft lip news: bullying, ‘Wonder’ movie, Cher’s retreat.
This story by Sara Newman came to my attention recently. It provides useful info for families with cleft lip and palate kids. I've added the info about Cher and her facial differences camps."Anti-bullying messages are prevalent in today’s schools, but some kids still may not understand how mocking someone for their differences can have profound effects that last well beyond the school day.“It breaks my heart,” Michelle Aftimos of Pomfret, [Md] said of the bullying her son, Kyle, 8, has received … [Read more...]
Lookism & Halloween: witch or bitch face?
It is Halloween and the time that witch faces show up at parties and at neighborhood trick-or-treat outings. All sorts of other faces show up, too—esp some representing lookism gone wild (for example, sweet faces from Disney's studios and pretty ones from Hollywood's glamor factories).Among meme-loving sophisticates, moreover, there's now the chance to put on a "resting bitch face" mask as well as a witch mask. In the last couple of years, both the New York Times and the Washington Post have … [Read more...]