Baby girl born with a ‘permanent smile’ becomes a TikTok star

A mum has revealed the ‘huge shock’ of her daughter being born with a ‘permanent smile’ and is now sharing the family’s life on TikTok to raise awareness about the rare condition.

Cristina Vercher, 21, and her husband Blaize Mucha, 20, from Adelaide, South Australia, welcomed their daughter Ayla Summer Mucha in December 2021.

The parents were over the moon to meet their little girl but during the C-section birth they were given the shock news that her mouth had not formed as ‘normal’.

Ayla Summer Mucha had developed bilateral macrostomia, a rare condition where the corners of the mouth don’t fuse together during pregnancy.

According to a study from 2007, only 14 cases of the condition have been reported in medical literature.

‘A caesarean is an uncomfortable experience as it is,’ the mum told Jam Press.

‘Therefore, I was already in an overwhelmed state. As you would know during the surgery the doctors will show you the baby once it has been removed from the uterus.

‘At the time it was a very obvious formation as Ayla was so tiny. We were instantly worried. Blaize and I were not aware of this condition nor had I ever met someone born with a macrostomia. So it came as a huge shock.’

When doctors handed Ayla to her parents, they noticed that she had a large oral opening, which initially baffled doctors as it had not been picked up on her ultrasound scans.

The condition is so rare that this was the first time doctors at the Flinder’s Medical Centre had seen such a case.