Many celebrities have had cleft lips, but now when you see them in photos, their clefts are corrected. So everyone wants to know: how did these celebrities undergo cleft lip repair?
1. Timing of Surgery
Generally, unilateral cleft lip surgery is recommended around 3 to 6 months of age, while bilateral cleft lip surgery is slightly delayed.The basic conditions for a child to undergo surgery are: generally good health, no upper respiratory tract infection, and no infection in the local or surrounding tissues. 2. Surgical Methods for Cleft Lip Repair The basic steps of cleft lip repair surgery are: anchor point design, incision, repositioning and continuity reconstruction of the cleft lip and nasal muscles, and skin suturing. There are many anchor point design methods. Different medical centers and surgeons may adopt different surgical approaches based on the specific characteristics of the cleft lip.
3. Postoperative Management
(1) Apply a tension-relieving wire lip bow with adhesive tape to the upper lip for 2 weeks to prevent wound dehiscence and minimize scarring.
(2) After the child regains consciousness from general anesthesia, both elbows are immobilized with splint bandages to prevent scratching the wound and to maintain tension on the lip arch.
(3) The lip wound is gently wiped with 3% hydrogen peroxide and povidone-iodine to prevent blood crusts from forming and interfering with wound healing.
(4) Sutures are removed 5-7 days postoperatively.
4. Postoperative Sequential Treatment
Despite cleft lip repair in infancy, varying degrees of deformity may develop in the nasolabial region during growth and development. This is termed secondary deformity after cleft lip surgery and requires further reconstructive procedures before school age.Patients with alveolar bone defects require bone grafting around age 12. Those with secondary jaw deformities need orthognathic surgery in adulthood to further improve facial profile and occlusal function.