Born with Down Syndrome, 15-year-old Charlie Cardillo has been taunted all his life because his ears didn’t have the usual folds and ridges and flopped forward. After an operation to fix his ears to look “normal” he is good and all smiles. Click below to read the rest of the story.
But now when the teenager looks in the mirror he sees ears “just like Dad’s†— thanks to a big-hearted Manhattan plastic surgeon who has helped dozens of children lead happier lives.
Children have been flown to New York from every corner of the globe — Peru, Mongolia, Iraq — for free reconstructive surgery through Dr. Thomas Romo’s Little Baby Face Foundation.
Charlie came from only as far as Mahopac in Putnam County, where he started ninth grade this year — after switching schools to get away from his tormentors.
“Charlie has been bullied and made fun of throughout his whole life because of his looks,†said his dad, Louis Cardillo, a real estate agent.
“We didn’t know there was a surgery to actually do this.â€
A Cardillo relative who works in Romo’s office encouraged the family to apply through the Little Baby Face website for a free operation, which normally costs more than $10,000.
Last Tuesday, he went under the knife at Lenox Hill Hospital on the upper East Side, self-consciously touching his ears before the anesthesia kicked in.
“We’ll take care of you,†Romo promised, giving the nervous boy a high-five. “You’re gonna be even better looking.â€
After he was unconscious, Charlie lay on an operating table with his eyes taped shut and a thick purple breathing tube attached to his mouth.
Assisted by a team of six, Romo, who softly sings along to Bruce Springsteen as he works, first sliced into the boy’s right ear, peeling back the skin.
Using techniques he pioneered, Romo spent the next two hours sculpting cartilage to create the missing folds and ridges.
“We’re going to re-create this bend right there and set this back and set this earlobe back,†he said. “He’s gonna get that girlfriend.â€
Romo said the surgery went well and the proof came two days later when Charlie and his parents met him again to have the bandages removed.
Charlie has limited verbal expression, but words did not fail him Thursday.
“Amazing,†he said, gazing at ears that lay flat against his head. “Just like Dad’s.â€
Romo, whose own children include twin teenage boys with developmental delays, hopes to replicate the Little Baby Face model nationwide.
He said the program comes from his need to give back.
“How much fat do you want to suck? How many breasts do you want to do?†he said.
“I can’t feed the hungry,” he added. “I can’t improve education in the Bronx. I’m a plastic surgeon and I can only do what I do.”
