Surgery to Give Girl Other Half of Her Smile Called Success

If all turns out well, Chelsey Thomas’ smile will soon spread all the way across her face.

In an 11-hour operation Tuesday at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, doctors replaced paralyzed muscles on the right side of Chelsey’s face with a live muscle from her leg, hoping to complete the work of giving the 7-year-old Palmdale girl her long-sought ability to grin.

Tuesday’s operation was identical to surgery in December on the left side of her face, which gave her a half-smile.

Chelsey suffers from a rare medical condition called Moebius syndrome which, among other effects, paralyzes her facial muscles. Spurred by ribbing from her classmates, she began a campaign last year to be able to smile before her eighth birthday this June--a goal her doctors described Tuesday as realistic.

“It went extremely well,” said Dr. Avron Danilla, chief of plastic surgery at the hospital.

Chelsey awoke from the anesthesia beaming the half-smile that she perfected since her first operation, he said.

Dr. Ronald Zuker, the Canadian surgeon who has been in charge of the operations, said that Chelsey will probably be able to leave the hospital this weekend. Her recovery will involve performing exercises in front of a mirror to strengthen her facial muscles and train them to produce a symmetrical smile.

That process should take about two or three months, he said.

The Thomas family is “very relieved to have it finally behind us and know she came through it,” said the girl’s mother, Lori Thomas.

She and her husband, Bob Thomas, said they were heartened by the national attention their daughter has attracted, saying it had helped her overcome years of self-consciousness from being teased by other children.

“She is concerned with people who are different being ridiculed and made fun of,” said Bob Thomas.

“She hopes that if more people are aware of people who are different it will make it easier for people like her.”

Chelsey went into the operating room about 8:30 a.m. for an hour’s preparation before surgery began. By 3 p.m., the international team of plastic surgeons had completed the most difficult portion of the operation: extracting a tiny muscle from Chelsey’s leg, and isolating a nerve in her face to prepare it for attachment to the new muscle.

Later Tuesday afternoon, they installed it in her face, according to Joseph Ruderman, administrative chief of the hospital, finishing about 8:30 p.m.

Chelsey was calm and cheerful early the morning of the surgery, her parents said--a surprise to them and doctors, who expected that she would be reluctant to undergo the painful and lengthy procedure a second time.

“Most 7-year-olds don’t know what surgery is all about,” Ruderman said.

“But this time Chelsey knows. Her spirit is really a driving point of the success here.”