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Mr Neil Bulstrode, Consultant Plastic Surgeon on the BBC

Mr Neil Bulstrode, Consultant Plastic Surgeon has been involved in and will appear on a BBC documentary with Ben Fogle and a team from Great Ormond Street Hospital. The programme is called Make Me a New Face: Hope for Africa’s Hidden Children and will be on BBC2 at 9pm on 9th June 2010.

The press release for it reads as follows:

In 2008, Ben Fogle caught a flesh-eating disease called Leishmaniasis which, if untreated, would have destroyed his face. In this film, Ben investigates a sickness that’s far worse but virtually unheard of – Noma, which eats away the faces of thousands of Africa’s poorest children. Up to ninety percent of Noma victims die, while survivors are left terribly disfigured. Every year a British charity sends top cosmetic surgeons to Africa to treat those affected. We go with Ben to Ethiopia, where he joins in the difficult task of finding the Noma sufferers, who are hidden away in shame. On his journey Ben meets three children whose lives have been blighted by this terrible disease: teenager Rashid, forced to hide his face in public; Asnake, aged 11, whose misshapen mouth makes him dribble constantly; and 10-year-old Mestikma, abandoned by her family because of her deformity. These children will join other Noma victims in Addis Ababa for the radical transformative surgery. Demand is overwhelming and the visiting surgeons won’t have time to treat everyone. Ben watches the teams carrying out amazing surgery. A month later, he returns to Ethiopia to visit the recovering patients. For them, a new face means a new life.

www.facingafrica.org 

Date: 06/04/2010