A baby born with a tongue twice the size of her mouth can now successfully smile and laugh after a successful tongue reduction surgery.
Layla was born with Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome
A little baby born with a tongue twice the size of her mouth can now smile after a surgery was performed to correct the problem.
According to a report by Metro.co.uk, Layla King, from St Louis in Missouri, USA, was first discovered to have Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome (BWS) during a 30-week scan while she was still in the womb.
Her condition which is called Beckwith-Wiedmann Syndrome is an overgrowth disorder usually present at birth, characterized by an increased risk of childhood cancer and certain congenital features. Beckwith syndrome can also cause child behavior problems.
It affects 15,000 babies and makes the tongue grow twice as quick as the mouth, as well as causing the intestines to form outside of the stomach.
When her mother, Danielle Youngburg, 25, noticed it, she feared Layla wouldn’t survive after she was born four weeks early and needed breathing apparatus to keep her alive before surgeons could repair a hole in Layla’s abdominal wall.
Layla smiles after a successful surgery
After surgery to reinsert her organs back into her body at two days old, Layla began to slowly recover. However, due to the size of her tongue, which was four inches, the poorly baby struggled to feed. Her tongue continued to grow at an increased rate to the point where it was permanently sticking out of her mouth and putting her at risk of suffocation.
At six-months-old, Layla had her first tongue reduction surgery, however, when it became enlarged again she needed a second surgery. Last month, the 13-month-old was able to smile for the first time after having a larger chunk of tongue removed.
Danielle added: ‘Typically the tongue stops growing after six months so as soon as she reached that age we went for her first surgery to make it smaller. It’s quite a graphic surgery, doctors had to cut a w-shape in order to stitch her tongue back together without it causing any lasting damage.
‘We hoped that would be it but six weeks ago Layla had to have a second surgery after I realised her tongue was still growing. After three months it was like being back to square one as her bite was getting worse and her lower jaw was being forced apart again so we knew she needed another operation.
Layla can now laugh and smile
‘If we didn’t there was a serious risk of her having a deformed jawline because it was growing to accommodate her large tongue. Now thankfully she is on the mend and can smile now for the first time without her tongue popping out of her mouth.”
The second surgery was a success meaning that Layla will be able eat, breathe and smile properly for the first time since she was born.
Tricia Surles, Co-Manager of support group How Big BWS, said: ‘Beckwith-Wiedmann Syndrome is a genetic overgrowth syndrome.
‘Symptoms vary but often include high blood sugar at birth, macroglossia (enlarged tongue), enlarged abdominal organs and/or abdominal defects like umbilical hernia or omphalocele.
‘Approximately 90% of children have an enlarged tongue that can lead to moderate to severe breathing, feeding and speech problems.’
