Paediatric Plastic Surgery

Children’s hand surgery

Our team of expert children’s hand surgeons see and treat babies and children born with differences in their hands (sometimes called congenital hand anomalies). Professor Vivien Lees and Mr Robert Winterton hold congenital hand clinics at Wythenshawe Hospital and the surgery is performed at Wythenshawe Hospital or at RMCH, depending on the age of the child and their other health needs.

We are supported by an expert and nationally renowned team of hand therapists who, along with the surgeons, will provide follow-up, splinting, and long-term management for children after reconstructive surgery.

Children’s skin lesions

A skin lesion is an area of skin that appears different to surrounding tissue in terms of texture, thickness, and colour. The commonest type we see are harmless moles, which after consultation with our expert plastic surgeons can often be left alone, not requiring surgery. Where there is any concern that a lesion could be harmful, pre-cancerous or cancerous, we can remove them as a minor surgical procedure. Depending on the age of your child, this will often require a short general anaesthetic, but can sometimes be done with a local anaesthetic for older, mature children.

Common conditions we see include Spitz naevus, giant hairy naevus, and sebaceous naevus of Jadassohn.

Vascular abnormalities

We see and treat many children with abnormalities of blood vessels. These have lots of different names, including haemangiomas, vascular malformations, vascular tumours, and birth marks, and there is often confusion about the right ‘medical term’ for a particular lesion.

Our plastic surgeons have extensive experience in the treatment of these problems, and are involved in the complex vascular abnormalities multidisciplinary team at RMCH. It is important to understand that not all of these problems are best managed by surgery. Sometimes medical treatments, lasers, or even no treatment at all may be best. We will support you through the process of understanding what the problem is and why we are recommending a particular plan for your child.

Prominent or underdeveloped ears

Some children have ears that stick out or otherwise look different to normal. These differences are commonly noticed at birth but a lot are also picked up as the child grows. We have experience in treating a wide range of ear differences, including prominent ears, cup, lop and Stahl’s ears, and ears which are partially missing either because they have not grown in the womb (microtia or anotia), or because they’ve been lost due to injury.

We also understand that the appearance of your child’s ears can cause anxiety to you and them and can sadly be a focus of bullying at school. Your surgeon will work with you to understand what you as a parent hope and wish for and also understand what your child feels about their ears and surgery – we do understand that sometimes children are perfectly happy with their ears and decide they don’t want to have surgery. If so, we can plan the right sort of surgery at the right time for your child.

Referrals

Patients can be referred to paediatric plastic surgery through their GPs, paediatricians or neonatologists.