Surgical Overview of Cleft Lip & Its Management

Cleft lip is one of the most common serial congenital anomalies to affect the orofacial region. It can occur isolated or togather in various combination and along with other congenital deformities. Patient with oro-facial cleft deformity needs to be treated at the right time and at right age to achieve functional and esthetic well-being. The average cleft lip patient has three primary procedures scheduled for correction of cleft deformity- Cheiloplasty, Palatoplasty, Alveolar bone grafting. The secondary procedures that may be added on as additional requirements to improve function and cosmesis are Lip revision, Velopharyngeal Dysfunction correction, Orthognathic surgery.Clinical features- Cleft lip is present in different forms: Micro-formed lips- present as a vertical groove, vermilion notching, or different levels of shortening. Incomplete cleft lip- disruption with intact nasal sill area. Complete cleft lip- complete disruption of lip, nasal sill, and alveolus. Symptoms like facial deformity, feeding problems, nasal regurgitation, defective speech, basic anatomic deformity, psychologic and otologic disclorders, dental disorders and other congenital anomalies.