Surgical repair of acleft lipandpalatehave medical benefits beyond the cosmetic. Repairing a cleft lip and palate will provide your infant with improved ability to nurse or drink from a bottle while also helping to facilitate optimal speech. Surgical repair of a cleft lip and palate is not a single procedure, but rather a series of surgeries to help maximize the benefit to your child while minimizing the risks for complications.
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Lip Adhesion
For babies born with a complete cleft lip, the first surgical procedure is likely to be a lip adhesion. This is a preliminary surgery that is usuallyperformed between 2 and 4 weeks of age. The aim of the surgery is to convert a complete cleft lip (wide unilateral or bilateral complete cleft) to an incomplete cleft lip.
By performing this surgery now, the hope is to reduce incision tension (something that occurs during the healing process) when the cleft lip repair is performed later. Reducing tension will reduce the risks for problems after the next surgery.
Possible disadvantages to having this procedure performed include risks commonly associated with any surgical procedure requiring general anesthesia, such as nausea and vomiting, breathing problems and in rare cases even death. In relation to your child’s cleft lip, the additional development of scar tissue may actually interfere with later procedures to repair the lip, however, this is not usually the case.
Cleft Lip Repair (Cheiloplasty)
Cleft lip repair, or cheiloplasty, is typicallyperformed between 4 and 6 months of age. The goal of this surgery is to complete the cosmetic repair of the lip and to aid in nursing or feeding and later speech development. Your surgeon will attempt to adjust the scar that was formed from previous surgeries.
In order to fully identify when your child is ready to have this procedure, some doctors use a scale called therule of tens:
Cleft Palate Repair (Palatoplasty)
The timing for performing palatoplasty is important because of normal growth and development for infants. Performing the surgery too early will not allow for proper growth of the maxilla and face. However, not performing the surgery early enough may inhibit the development of speech. It is recommended that cleft palate repair beperformed between 9 and 16 months of age. As with the cleft lip repair, there are many different techniques that your physician may choose to perform palatoplasty, including:
The goals of cleft palate repair are different in some aspects than the cleft lip repair. Much of the cleft lip repair is cosmetic in nature while repairing the cleft palate is more focused on the structure of your child’s mouth. Surgical repair of a cleft palate can decrease the risk forear infections, delays in speech development, and help in maintaining normal growth and global development. You should also realize that as your child matures, additional surgeries may be necessary including:
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SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Society of Plastic Surgeons. (2011). Cleft Lip and Palate Repair: Correct Abnormal Development.Goldenberg, D. & Goldstein, B.J. (2011). Handbook of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery. New York City, NY: Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc.Randall, P. (1965). A Lip Adhesion Operation in Cleft Lip Surgery. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. 35(4). pp. 371-376.Salyer, K.E., Rozen, S.M., Genecov, E.R. & Genecov, D.G. (2005). Unilateral Cleft Lip – Approach and Technique.
Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Society of Plastic Surgeons. (2011). Cleft Lip and Palate Repair: Correct Abnormal Development.Goldenberg, D. & Goldstein, B.J. (2011). Handbook of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery. New York City, NY: Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc.Randall, P. (1965). A Lip Adhesion Operation in Cleft Lip Surgery. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. 35(4). pp. 371-376.Salyer, K.E., Rozen, S.M., Genecov, E.R. & Genecov, D.G. (2005). Unilateral Cleft Lip – Approach and Technique.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
American Society of Plastic Surgeons. (2011). Cleft Lip and Palate Repair: Correct Abnormal Development.Goldenberg, D. & Goldstein, B.J. (2011). Handbook of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery. New York City, NY: Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc.Randall, P. (1965). A Lip Adhesion Operation in Cleft Lip Surgery. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. 35(4). pp. 371-376.Salyer, K.E., Rozen, S.M., Genecov, E.R. & Genecov, D.G. (2005). Unilateral Cleft Lip – Approach and Technique.
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