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Short Supply. The dwarf clinic, now marking its second anniversary, is the creation of Dr. David Rimoin, a U.C.L.A. geneticist and one of the world's leading authorities on dwarfism. Rimoin believes that the condition (which occurs once in every 10,000 births in the U.S.) is almost universally misunderstood, largely because so few doctors have taken the trouble to learn about it. Says he: "To most doctors, all dwarfs look alike...
Most doctors might see only one dwarf professionally during their careers; Rimoin's clinic, located at Los Angeles' Harbor General Hospital and staffed by ten physicians, sees 500 a year. Rimoin and his colleagues can now identify at least 50 types of dwarfism, and have determined the causes of many of these abnormalities. Midgets, who are tiny but normally proportioned, are usually victims of an underactive pituitary gland, a pea-sized organ at the base of the brain that is largely responsible for the secretion of growth hormone (HGH). Other dwarfs, who tend to have normal-sized heads...
Heaven Sent. The Los Angeles clinic also deals with many of the other problems connected with dwarfism. Some dwarfs have severe spinal defects that can lead to paralysis if not promptly treated. Others suffer from deteriorating vision and a wide variety of orthopedic problems that most doctors cannot correctly diagnose or treat. Mrs. Estrella Sberna of Los Angeles took her daughter Mary Lou, 12, to dozens of different doctors for problems ranging from a cleft palate to flat feet. But it was only at the clinic that Mary Lou began to receive proper treatment after doctors diagnosed her condition...
Actor Michael Dunn, 38, who is best known for his performance in the film Ship of Fools, consulted several specialists in search of a cure for the arthritis he feared might force him to give up show business. He finally found help at the clinic, where surgeons operated to tighten his knee ligaments and reduce the pain in his legs. That surgery, says Dunn, saved his career...
Others credit the clinic with preserving their sanity. Los Angeles House wife Shirley Figone, who is normal sized, was upset about her dwarf son Chris, 2, until Rimoin arranged for her to meet a dwarf couple with the opposite problem - their normal-sized daughter was embarrassed by them. The meeting helped breach the isolation that so often surrounds dwarfs and their families. "We're saving a scrapbook for Chris, cutting out any newspaper stories we can find concerning little people," says Mrs. Figone. "We want him to know that he's not alone...