This 19 year old was treated with fat injections to sculpt the face and address the facial deformities from congenital craniostenosis.
Dr. Patrick K. Sullivan has been invited to speak at the Marrakech Masters World Aesthetic Congress in October of 2014; Invited as a key note speaker, and co-chairman of three sessions, he will be educating fellow plastic surgeons from around the world on his fat grafting technique developed for the treatment of facial deformities in children and adolescents with facial and craniofacial abnormalities.
Providence, RI – As part of an ongoing effort to teach plastic surgeons the latest advances in plastic surgery and to help those in need, Rhode Island plastic surgeon Patrick K. Sullivan, MD prioritizes giving back both locally in the United States and internationally through his commitment to humanitarian work. He helps children by performing pediatric facial contouring with fat injections for those children and adolescents whose families are either underinsured or uninsured completely. These sculpting procedures utilize the patient’s own fat and can be used to help improve the appearance of facial deformities including cleft lips and/or palates, craniofacial anomalies, tumor excisions, and disfiguring facial injuries. Dr. Sullivan says he is looking forward to sharing his expertise on pediatric fat grafting with an international audience in Marrakech and hopes the surgeons there can learn these techniques and provide help to even more disadvantaged children worldwide.
At the Master’s World Aesthetic Congress in Morocco, Dr. Sullivan will share his knowledge and expertise with an international audience. He has been invited to speak on the art of fat grafting and utilization of fat grafting as a tool for treatment of craniofacial malformations. The panels he will co-chair will include discussions on: facial volume enhancement with hyaluronic acid; artistic concepts and anatomy of the chin and jawline; and a discussion on the forehead, glabella, and nose. Dr. Sullivan is also honored that he has been asked to present the keynote address on advances in fat grafting in children and adults with facial deformities. He looks forward to meeting with plastic surgeons from all over the world and furthering the cause of plastic and reconstructive surgery for those less fortunate.
According to Dr. Sullivan, “We have performed fat injections in over 800 adult patients to rejuvenate and enhance their faces for cosmetic reasons. The fat grafting procedure is a minimally invasive surgery that does not even require general anesthesia in most patients. Thus, we decided to apply the techniques that we have learned from working with adult cosmetic patients to the treatment of children with facial deformities. These soft tissue facial reshaping procedures require far less operating room time than craniofacial bony reconstructions. Often times, they can even be done as an outpatient procedure. In the over 35 fat grafting procedures I have performed on children and adolescents for facial deformities, no blood transfusions have been necessary. Further, with a number of our craniofacial patients, just one fat grafting treatment has been enough to suffice. We have found this to be a very low risk, cost effective way to help many children and adolescents.â€
Dr. Patrick Sullivan notes that one of the most rewarding aspects of helping these children is the positive impact the results can make on their lives, as evidenced by one of his recent patient cases:
“I received an email from a young man I took care of as a baby that read, ‘I’m now 17 years old, and as I grew my face became more deformed. People stare at me and girls shun me. Can you help me?’ We decided to use extensive facial reshaping with fat injections to help him with his facial deformities. Now he has entered college. The last time I saw him he was over a year post-operative and he told me he was on the ‘Deans List’ and dating.  He said: ‘I had never gotten an A before because I was always so focused on my face and the deformities.’â€
Much like this young man, Dr. Sullivan says the results from fat injections have been able to help kids who suffer with low self-esteem, resulting from to their cranio-facial abnormalities, to develop a more healthy sense of self by alleviating their social anxiety about how they look and how they will be perceived. As Dr. Patrick Sullivan further notes, “From what I’ve witnessed, patients who have received this treatment are now doing things they would not have been comfortable doing before, such as going to college and socializing normally. It is truly gratifying for me and my team.â€
About Patrick K. Sullivan, MD, FACS
Dr. Sullivan is certified by both the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the American Board of Otolaryngology. In addition to being voted by his peers as a top plastic surgeon in the state of Rhode Island, Dr. Sullivan has been named in the Castle Connolly Guide to “America’s Top Doctors†and in U.S News & World Report as being in the top 1% of plastic surgeons in America. He is available for consultation upon request.
For more information about Dr. Sullivan and his humanitarian work, please visit www.drsullivan.com.
Contact:
Patrick K. Sullivan, MD, FACS
235 Plain Street, Suite 502
Providence, RI 02905
(410) 831-8300
Rosemont Media
(858) 200-0044
www.rosemontmedia.com