Blog

This July, the UCI Department of Plastic Surgery celebrated Cleft/Craniofacial Awareness Month with a Hawaiian Luau at the Santa Ana Zoo! In our 3rd year, over 500 of our CHOC/UCI family joined together for delicious food and fun games like island face painting, Hula dancing, kids vs volunteers tug-of-war, a 3-legged grass skirt race, and many more.

Kids and parents lined up to take aim at their plastic surgeons, nurses, and clinic staff – all sacrificed again and again in our first (surely annual) Dunk Tank Revenge! Once again, the annual Talent Show amazed us all and dozens of families intricately illustrated their stories in our Journey Poster Fair.

While their friends celebrate the end of school with summer sun, so many of our children spend summer undergoing surgery and recoveries that often limit sun, pool, food, and activity. That’s why it’s especially essential to join together one hot July afternoon to celebrate all our families and children with cleft and craniofacial differences.