Team Type: Plastic Surgery
Campaign Summary:
Over just two and a half days, the team evaluated 99 patients and performed 36 surgical procedures. Conditions treated included problematic scars, atypical skin lesions, lipomas, keloids, and burn-related deformities—issues that often cause significant functional and psychosocial burden, but are highly amenable to outpatient surgical care.
Supporters:
Project Peru — Miami, Florida
Team Members Paid Their Own Way
Team Members and Roles:
Dr. Cathy Burnweit, M.D., Pediatric General Surgeon
Brooke Perlyn, Assistant
Dr. Chad Perlyn, M.D., Plastic Surgeon
Mike Rizo, Pharmacist
Volunteer Brooke Perlyn holds a baby while her mother underwent removal of facial mass.
Dr. Chad Perlyn, M.D. in the operating room getting ready for a busy day of surgeries.
A Kausay Wasi patient and Dr. Cathy Burnweit, M.D. The patient underwent removal of a fatty tumor.
A line of patients extends out the door of the Kausay Wasi Clinic waiting to see Dr. Perlyn’s plastic surgery team
Mike Rizo and Dr. Chad Perlyn, M.D. in the surgery pharmacy
Dr. Chad Perlyn performing a removal of a facial skin cancer.
Dr. Perlyn explaining to a mother, with the help of clinic translator, Beverly, how the child’s cleft lip was repaired.
Narrative:
By Dr. Chad Perlyn, M.D.
Dr. Chad Perlyn and Dr. Cathy Burnweit, joined by Brooke Perlyn and pharmacist Mike Rizo, conducted a focused surgical mission to the Kausay Wasi Clinic in Peru. The team’s goal was to provide much-needed surgical care to children and adults with conditions that could be safely treated under local anesthesia—an approach that maximizes impact in resource-limited
settings while minimizing recovery time and risk.
The mission was strengthened by outstanding collaboration with the Clinic’s physicians, who provided essential diagnostic support, including radiographic imaging, as well as by the Clinic’s highly skilled nursing staff. In addition to patient care, the visit offered meaningful teaching opportunities and bidirectional learning, reinforcing the Clinic’s long-term capacity to deliver surgical services locally.
The team also conducted a site visit to a new hospital facility in the nearby town of Lamay, laying the groundwork for expanded future collaboration. This short but intensive mission demonstrated the profound impact that
targeted surgical outreach can achieve in a limited timeframe.
Plans are already underway for a return visit in August with a full multidisciplinary team to continue building on this partnership and further expand access to safe, high-quality surgical care for the community.