We sit down with artist and advocate Caitlin Mesiano for a deeply personal account of her journey as a person born with a cleft lip and palate.
We sit down with artist and advocate Caitlin Mesiano for a deeply personal account of her journey as a person born with a cleft lip and palate.
For those of us working in healthcare, cleft care is often framed through the lens of a "corrective" surgical success story. But Caitlin’s experience illuminates the reality that exists far beyond the operating room. She walks us through the lifelong, multifaceted nature of her care, an ongoing journey involving orthodontics, bone grafts, prosthodontics, and the quiet, persistent work of navigating a world that often perceives her through the lens of a medical diagnosis rather than as a whole person.
In this conversation, we explore how narrative practice shifts the clinical encounter from a task to be completed into a partnership rooted in empathy.
Key themes from our discussion include:
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The Lifelong Patient Journey: Understanding that cleft care is not a "one-and-done" surgery, but a complex, decades-long process involving diverse dental and surgical specialties.
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The Ethics of Perception: A candid look at the lasting impact of microaggressions and biases that patients with facial differences encounter in everyday clinical and social settings.
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Representation as a Clinical Tool: Why seeing oneself reflected—both visually and through lived experience—is critical for patient identity and long-term well-being.
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Human-First Care: Moving beyond the "surgical chart" to recognize that a patient's medical history is only one part of the person standing in front of you.
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The Role of Narrative Practice: How actively listening to the patient’s narrative allows clinicians to move past the "medical case" and address the person beneath the diagnosis.
