Birth Defects
The way to care for humanity means jumping in with both feet and doing whatever needs to be done to achieve a result. Dr. Kivett’s whole reason to go and get eight additional years of training was so he could treat impoverished children overseas with birth defects on a charity basis. While living in various countries over the years, he had seen these types of children and wanted to do something about that. They had clefts of the lips, palate, gums and nose and major and minor deformities of the hand, wrist and arm.
This is now something that he has been doing regularly, with his greatest professional satisfaction to date. He is an Advisor to the Board of Directors of a San Diego-based group of plastic surgeons with 40 years of existence. He hopes to continue to do the charity trips several times per year with the group for several years to come.
Many birth defects have a genetic causation resulting in a growth failure or lack of tissue movement at the time of, or soon after, conception. Some of the causes are more external, such as a nutrition problem in the mother (protein, folic acid, oxygen) and/or the effect of drugs or other chemicals during the pregnancy (thalidomide, tetracycline, vitamin A derivatives).
In addition to clefts of the lips, palate, gums and nose, and major/minor deformities of the hand, wrist and arm (narrowing, contraction, duplication and absence), post-accident and post-burn scarring are commonly treated, too.