Smile Stories: Before and After Smiles...

Operation Smile's volunteer medical professionals travel around the world to treat children suffering from facial deformities. Their efforts mean new smiles for thousands of children, including these former patients:

Rikta Ghosal

Khokhon & Sankor

Kohinoor

Lalchand

Khokhon & Sankor

Khokhon was unique of all the children waiting for surgery. He was hoping to be chosen for surgery not just for himself, but also for his father Sankor who was also born with a cleft lip. Khokhon was teased and called names like ‘monkey lip’ by other children. Sankor had lived his whole life with a facial deformity and was willing to pass up his chance for surgery because he so desperately wanted his son to get help. Sankor said “I know what it’s like to live with this problem, and I don’t want my son to suffer my same fate. If he doesn’t get selected for surgery then he has no other option.” Luckily for Sankor and his son, they were both selected for the life changing surgery. Khohon went first, while his father waited anxiously for his son to come out and for his own turn on the operating table. After the surgery, they were placed in adjacent beds. When they woke up the first thing they saw was each other – father and son, both with repaired lips.