Facial birth defects can result from genetic heredity, environmental factors and unknown spontaneous development disturbances, and can affect not only a child's appearance but speaking, eating, breathing and social development as well. We can identify a patient from your coverage area who has had successful treatment at the U-M for you to profile. When Michigan and northern Ohio babies are born prematurely or with serious health problems like birth defects, they often come to the U-M's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, one of the most advanced in the nation. We can find one from your coverage area to feature, or tell you more about the research our specialists do to advance the state of neonatal care for all babies and prevent premature birth. Or, you could see the brand-new specially equipped ambulance and helicopter that our Survival Flight service uses to transport about half the babies who come to the NICU each year.
Patients come from across the region and around world for treatment of a range of problems.
Come see an operation in progress, or arrange to talk to a family from your coverage area. New technology is making it easier for women to know before they give birth whether their baby might have birth defects, and to choose the best medical course of action. For those whose family histories contain a genetic risk factor for a serious defect, genetic counseling by U-M's nationally known team helps couples decide whether to attempt to conceive, and guides the monitoring and treatment process during pregnancy and after delivery. And surgeons can now go into the womb and repair defects in the fetus.