Cosmetic surgery is not just for adults wanting to look younger and thinner. It is also helpful for correcting birth defects in children. A charitable organization called Operation Smile provides reconstructive surgery to poor children all over the world. Its goal is to repair a birth defect or disfigurement from an accident such as a fire.

        Volunteer doctors and nurses provide their expertise and labor to correct major birth defects in children.They often treat cleft lip and cleft palate. Children with cleft lip have an opening from the top of their lip to their nose. Cleft palate is an opening in the roof of the mouth.

        Operation Smile was founded in 1982 by an American doctor, Dr. William Magee, and his wife, Kathleen Magee, a registered nurse. Their goal was to improve the lives of children by improving their appearances.They believe that appearance can affect a child’s self-esteem and sense of dignity.Operation Smile surgeons have performed over 20,000 operations worldwide. In 1999, the couple launched “World Journey of Hope ’99,” a surgical mission dedicated to correcting facial deformities among the world’s poorest children. It was a nine-week mission and was the first of its kind in the world. Operation Smile’s volunteers treated more than 5,000 children in that year alone.