Surgery to Help Girl Smile Is Called a Success

The goal of the surgery was to give 7-year-old Chelsey Thomas of Palmdale the ability to smile, but it was her parents who were grinning from ear to ear Friday night.

That’s because Friday’s procedure marked the halfway point to realizing a lifelong dream for Chelsey, who has been unable to smile since birth because of a rare neurological condition called Moebius syndrome.

In 10 1/2 hours of surgery, a specialist from Canada replaced the inoperative nerve in the left side of the girl’s lip with an active one from her thigh.

It won’t be until sometime next spring that he can do the same to the right side of Chelsey’s mouth so she can enjoy a full smile. But her parents did her smiling for her as surgeons pronounced the operation a success at a news conference Friday night.

“We couldn’t ask for a better Christmas present,” said Lori Thomas, Chelsey’s mother. Topping Chelsey’s Christmas list--along with new Rollerblades and a race car--is Baby So Real, a doll that smiles on its own.

After enduring years of teasing from schoolmates, the youngster decided this summer that she wanted to be able to smile before her eighth birthday next June.

It’s “a very likely possibility” now that her wish will come true, said Dr. Ronald Zuker, the specialist who performed the operation at Kaiser Woodland Hills.