ReSurge International, formerly known as Interplast, is the first international humanitarian organization to provide free reconstructive surgery in developing countries, primarily to children with

cleft lip and palate A cleft lip contains an opening in the upper lip that may extend into the nose. The opening may be on one side, both sides, or in the middle. A cleft palate occurs when the palate (the roof of the mouth) contains an opening into the nose. The ...

and

burn scar contracture Burn scar contracture is the tightening of the skin after a second or third degree burn. When skin is burned, the surrounding skin begins to pull together, resulting in a contracture. It needs to be treated as soon as possible because the scar ...

s. Interplast was founded in 1969 by

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

plastic surgeon

Donald Laub Donald R. Laub Sr. (born January 1, 1935) is an American retired plastic surgeon and founder of Interplast, which led multidisciplinary teams on reconstructive surgery missions to developing countries. Education Laub completed his undergraduate ...

, and as of 2007, has treated more than 64,000 children worldwide. The first patient was a 13-year-old boy who had come to

Stanford University Medical Center Stanford University Medical Center is a medical complex which includes Stanford Health Care and Stanford Children's Health. It is consistently ranked as one of the best hospitals in the United States and serves as a teaching hospital for the ...

from his home in

Mexicali Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California. The city, seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali metropolitan area is home to 1,000, ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, to receive surgery to repair his cleft lip and palate. Soon after, Laub and other surgeons began organizing regular trips to a charity hospital in Mexicali to treat children with disabling deformities. Over time, Interplast began organizing surgical volunteer trips to other parts of Latin America, and eventually to Asia and Africa as well. As medical infrastructures improved throughout the developing world, Interplast shifted its focus towards educating and empowering doctors in developing countries by providing surgical outreach directors with the resources (money, education, supplies, etc.) to offer high-quality care in their own communities. Inherent in the goals of organizations such as ReSurge Inter-national is the supposition that many such disabling conditions can be greatly alleviated or even resolved through plastic surgical intervention. Interplast was the subject of "

A Story of Healing ''A Story of Healing'' is a short documentary film in which Donna Dewey follows a team of five nurses, four anesthesiologists, and three plastic surgeons from Interplast in the United States for two weeks of volunteer work in the Mekong delta of ...

", winner of the 1997

Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject This is a list of films by year that have received an Academy Award together with the other nominations for best documentary short film. Following the Academy's practice, the year listed for each film is the year of release: the awards are annou ...

. Interplast still exists under the Interplast name in Australia.

References

{{Reflist

External links

ReSurge International
Health charities in the United States Plastic surgery organizations Oral and maxillofacial surgery Medical and health organizations based in California

See also

References

External links