Matilda Lansdown: A Remarkable Woman
Matilda’s journey wasn’t always plain sailing
Matilda Lansdown, 31, from Edinburgh, was born with a cleft lip and palate and had her first surgery at just eight weeks old.
Matilda is a remarkable woman. The Scot endured 21 years of surgeries and is now sharing her strength and smile with cleft-affected families around the world.
She now serves as a Smile Train UK Ambassador and member of Smile Train UK’s Cleft Community Advisory Council.
Matilda, the General Manager of exclusive London salon Josh Wood Colour, was born with a cleft lip and palate.
She had her first surgery at just eight weeks old, followed by her first palate surgery when she was nine months old.
Matilda’s first memory is “sitting in a doctor’s room being looked at” when she was about three – not surprising as her life has been dominated by surgery. Matilda would continue having procedures and treatments until she was 21.
“I’m told my cleft was quite severe, as it went all the way back and my nose had completely collapsed into my mouth.
“I had to grow up faster than my twin sister, but I’m very grateful and thankful for my postcode lottery of being in the UK with the National Health Service (NHS). I know my parents felt like the support was always there and they couldn’t have done it without charity and hospital support.”
As with any journey, Matilda’s experience wasn’t plain sailing.
“I had a feeling when I was younger that I wanted to distance myself from the cleft community and the cleft label because I just so desperately wanted to be in the ‘normal’ world of my peers. I didn’t trust people as easily and I didn’t like myself until later in life, so it was hard to make serious connections with others.”
As Matilda started to feel more comfortable in her own skin, she decided to use her personal experience to empower others with clefts, fundraise money for Smile Train UK, and become an advocate and champion for cleft-affected individuals in the UK and around the world.
In 2018, Matilda and her father, Adam, embarked on a 34-mile Italian trek through Verona, Vento, and Lake Garda, raising over £1,300 for Smile Train UK.
“For me the hardest part was physical endurance. I’m not really an outdoorsy person so this was definitely outside my comfort zone,” she said.
In February 2019, Matilda travelled to Ethiopia on her very own Journey of Smiles, alongside her mum, Sarah, to see first-hand the impact Smile Train has on patients.
With a background in make-up artistry, Matilda put her skills to good use and organised an empowering make-up session for cleft-affected women at Smile Train partner Yekatit 12 Hospital so that they could feel confident applying make-up.
As well as using her social media platforms (@barbieinthecity_ on Instagram) to promote her make-up artistry, she uses her platform to encourage others with clefts to reach out to her and to embrace their appearance.
She said: “I have felt inspired to make a change any way I can. I want to help improve the lives of every child born with a cleft – opening the door to opportunities that the confidence of a smile can bring.
“Smiling is a medicine in itself. In my experience, smiling hasn’t always been a given, so it is something special. This was such a big part of why I wanted to get involved with Smile Train – giving others a smile that they could be proud of.”
You, too, can make a difference for people with clefts in the UK and around the world.