People look at him and think he’s angry or
Because he has no facial expression whatsoever.
Some he gets frustrated when people can’t understand him.
Dawson has Mobius Syndrome.
It means that he’s had no facial movement on both sides of his face
ever since birth and he also has the inability to move his eyes
laterally, out to the sides.
People take it for granted. Smile when you’re happy and frown when you’re sad
and, you know, he never had that.
He is funny, he loves to make people laugh,
he loves to laugh so just
very loving outgoing, just wants to be part of the crowd.
Doctor Allsion Snyder Warwick,
pediatric plastic surgeon will perform two surgical procedures that she hopes
will restore movement to Dawson’s face,
give the six-year-old the ability to smile for the first time in his life.
In order to get facial movement, you need two things: you need muscle
and you also need a nerve to move that muscle and so in Dawson’s case, because
this all developed when he was developing in utero,
in the womb, we need to replace both of those things because he doesn’t have
normal nerve or muscle there.
Doctors Snyder Warwick performed the first procedure on Dawson’s left side.
He did really well. They took the Gracilis
muscle out of his left leg and put it in the left side of his face.
Then we find different nerve in the face that Dawson does have.
And that’s called the Masseteric nerve which is normally used
in chewing. So that nerve gets connected this muscle that we transfered to the face
and reoriented from the core in the mouth up near the temple.
And then they wait.
We were expecting sensation around four to six months after the surgery.
About a month and a half afterward,
he was able to already move it. So it was very,
very shocking to us and very, very exciting.
I was actually at work when it happened so
dad had called me to tell me and then
of course I’m at work and I’m crying. It’s just exciting.
I got home and I was just,
you gotta show me you gotta show me. So then I called the doctor and I’m like,
you know, he’s doing it. Of course, I didn’t expect her to believe me.
And I said okay, you know, kind of thinking I don’t really think that’s
true movement, you know, maybe there were some muscles spasms or something
had happened. But, she sent me a picture in the email cause they do live quite a
distance away and it looked very real.
She said that was the soonest she’s ever seen anybody have results.
And then when they came to the clinic, of course, I was able to verify that,
indeed, he’s got great movement up his cheek,
and the picture that she had sent, you know, was just the very beginning of that.
But, she had told me it have been very consistent from the time that she had called.
So that really surprised me that he had had movement so quickly.
Three months later Dawson returned to Saint Louis Children’s Hospital to repair the right side of his face.
I was hopeful that he would do just as well, but I
didn’t know if it was just an anomaly last time and now he’d be kinda more
the standard course or, you know, even a little slower.
Probably about a month and half, two months, when he started having movement.
Just in time for picture day for school this year so that was very exciting.
I was a little bit nervous because they hadn’t called
and it was time for his next visit and I was worried that maybe this
side wasn’t working and then Dawson walked in from the waiting room and he
didn’t give me any smiles on the walk in, he walked right past me.
And then he sat down and his mom said well show her
and he gave me this big smile on both sides of the face
so that was really rewarding and actually a little bit of a relief too.
He’s been healing from his second surgery,
learning to control his muscles
that have been placed in his face. And he’s got really
great control over them now. A lot sooner than we expected, just like the
first time around.
It’s a little difficult for him to
learning when he needs to do it and when he shouldn’t do it. And be aware that
there’s a motion that’s connected to it.
Overtime, people become more adjusted to the new kind of scenario
and having the social interactions that they have throughout their life,
they learn how to smile without thinking about it.
It’s just a learning experience for him.
Smiles are such beautiful things, they tell you so much about a person.
There is no better feeling than seeing a child
get their smile back or smile for the first time.
We are very appreciative for everything
she has done and very grateful that she was brought here
to our area to where we could, you know proceed with this with her.
The program at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and
Washington University School of Medicine
is one of only a small handful in the US that focuses on facial reanimation,
Doctor Snyder Warwick specialty.
Working with children is so rewarding because they really have a great perspective on life.
And knowing Dawson will have an easier time fitting in with his peers
gives his mom something to smile about.
I just absolutely love the smile. It bring a smile to my face every time I see him.