When to change faces.

Cleft plate and hare lip, which often occur together, are corrected at an early age in Britain, but fifty percent of children so treated suffer growth disturbance problems in adolescence and need further surgery to re- align their jaws. In order to test the results of delaying the operation until later in childhood, Michael Mars, Consultant Orthodontist, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, took a medical team to sri Lanka where these conditions are left largely untreated. He faced an unenviable task in selecting for surgery comparatively few of the many applicants, desperate to be freed from the social stigma of their condition. A concentrated operating schedule was organized and surgical techniques are shown as well as pre- and post-operative will be monitored to ascertain whether any disturbances occur. As well as being a record of an extrodinary surgical venture the film ashows how the Great Ormond Street research project uncovered a startling area of need.