About Kidejapa Surgical Missions

Since 1998, Kidejapa has conducted surgical missions in Ecuador, traveling annually each summer to repair birth deformities in children. Our surgical teams perform between 50 and 100 operations per trip.

Why Surgical Missions?
People in third-world countries like Ecuador do not have the same access to medical care which we enjoy in the United States. Diseases do not get treated as early, people with severe illness are allowed to die, and many surgeries are never performed.

To help with this crisis, physicians from many of the more developed countries frequently donate their time, money and energies to provide care to these people. Humanitarian activities such as these are especially common among plastic surgeons because so many of the conditions they treat are often the most neglected in developing countries.

During surgical missions, we correct birth defects such as cleft palate and lip, abnormal facial features, children born without ears, hands with fused fingers, and large birthmarks. Scars from flame burns are common in countries like Ecuador where primitive kerosene stoves and heaters are used. In Ecuador, children with birth defects like these are often believed by locals to be unfit and they are often ostracized, not allowed to marry or have children.

This mission provides plastic and reconstructive surgery to children who otherwise would not have access to such medical care. By correcting birth defects and deformities, we are changing their lives forever. As volunteers, our love for these children has no boundary.

Kidejapa was founded by Sheldon Lincenberg, MD, FACS, an Atlanta plastic and reconstructive surgeon. For more information about Dr. Lincenberg and his practice, see www.drlincenberg.com.