Cleft lip and palate is present from childhood. When it is found, it should be treated to ease the condition. Doctors usually operate at least once (depending on the age at treatment) to reduce the abnormality and bring back balance to the face.

Besides surgery, some people may need medical devices to adjust the position of the lips, nose and palate. Some also need braces and jaw surgery so the teeth bite together properly. Treatment depends on the doctor’s assessment.

Cleft lip and palate causes clearly visible abnormalities, such as a gap in the lip, palate or nose, which affect the shape of the face. In some people the signs are not obvious, but they have unclear speech, difficulty swallowing, a muffled voice in the ears and ear infections.

What Causes Cleft Lip and Palate?

Cleft lip and palate (cleft lip and cleft palate) is caused by genetic factors or abnormal chromosomes, so it is present from birth. In Thailand, 700 to 800 people are born with it each year. It can also be caused by poor nutrition during the first 3 months of pregnancy, side effects of some medicines and infections. Cleft lip and palate can be treated if it is corrected and repaired at each stage of treatment from childhood.

Levels of Cleft Lip and Palate

a gap on one side of the lip
gaps on both the left and right sides of the lip
a gap in the middle of the lip

Risk Factors for Cleft Lip and Palate

genetics
smoking or drinking alcohol during pregnancy
diabetes in the mother before pregnancy
obesity during pregnancy

Can Plastic Surgery Correct Cleft Lip and Palate?

With current medical technology, people with cleft lip and palate can have surgery to correct it. Surgery can repair the gap in the lip so it is filled and closer to a typical shape, repair the cleft palate, operate on the ear tubes and reshape the face to be more symmetrical.

Nose surgery to correct cleft lip and palate reshapes crooked, distorted cartilage in the nose and inside the nasal cavity (depending on each person’s condition). The treatment uses rib cartilage for rhinoplasty, so it is a technique that relies on the surgeon’s experience to make the nose balanced on both sides and suit the face.

A Cleft Lip and Palate Correction Case at S45 Clinic

In this case, the patient had a deviated septum, difficulty breathing and uneven nostrils. The surgeon at S45 Clinic chose structural rhinoplasty with septal extension to help make breathing easier and to shape the nose to suit the face and be more symmetrical.

“In the first 3 days after surgery, I started to feel I could breathe more easily”
A patient who had rhinoplasty at S45 Clinic