In 1996 I met a person that was to become a very dear friend at the Annual Congress of the American Society for Plastic Surgery: Beverly Kent, director of volunteer services for Interplast, one of the first humanitarian organizations in plastic surgery founded more than 30 years ago in California.

Thanks to her I came to be part of the great world of volunteer surgery that has given me the chance to visit fascinating countries, to come into contact with different cultures, to meet wonderful people and also to see how easy it is for a two-year-old to die because his/her parents have not got 2$ to purchase antibiotics.

Nowadays there are very many no-profit organizations in the western world that deal with plastic surgery for children affected by congenital malformations (harelip and cleft palate), severe outcomes of burn injuries and pathologies of the hand.

Surgical teams that stay for 2 weeks at a time in the less well-off areas of the world are made up of surgeons, anaesthetists, paediatricians and intensive care nursing staff: these missions are aimed both at treating patients surgically (about 70/90 per mission) and at specialized training of trainees or local surgeons. Very important help is given by all the medical and nursing staff of the hospitals that welcome us.

I have been cooperating with Interplast since 1997 and in more recent years with Rotaplast (an organization tied to Rotary International, founded by an American-Italian surgeon, a good friend of mine, Dr Angelo Capozzi) and in the last years I have had the privilege of being chosen as team leader for these surgical missions.

One of the most frequently asked question is why I keep on taking part in these missions even after leaving the hospital in Verona I worked in up to 2002.

The answer is the same: now more than ever I feel the need to make the surgical knowledge I have acquired available to help all those children and their families find once again the ability to smile and the hope for a normal life.