Early neonatal cleft lip repair
We are currently encouraging early neonatal cleft
lip repair in the full-term baby [4, 5]. Lip surgery is performed according to
the Millard technique. Our aim is to repair the orbicularis oris muscle as soon
as possible. No separation between the baby and his mother is
necessary and the breast- feeding is encouraged. If the cleft lip is
associated with cleft palate, a surgery to close the gap in the palate is
usually done at about the age of six months, according to a
Veau-Wardill-Kilner technique (Fig. 11). Both operations are made with the baby
put to sleep under general anaesthesia and they involve a hospital stay for
three days (Fig. 4-11).
Figure
4. A. Right cleft lip. B. One month after early
repair.
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B. |
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Figure
5. A. Left cleft lip. B. Two years after early
repair.
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B. |
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Figure
6. A. Right labio-alveolar cleft. B. One month after early
repair.
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B. |
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Figure
7. A. Right labio-alveolar cleft. B. four years after early
repair.
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B. |
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Figure
8. A. Right unilateral cleft lip and palate. B. two days after
early repair. C. One month after early repair.
Figure 9. A. Left unilateral cleft lip and
palate. B. Six months after early repair, intervention for cleft
palate.
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B. |
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B. |
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Figure
10. A Bilateral cleft lip and palate. B. After early
repair.
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A. |
B. |
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B. |
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Figure
11. Cleft palate repaired
4.
J.N. Mcheik et al.
Early
repair for infants with cleft lip and nose. International Journal of Pediatric
Otorhinolaryngology (2006) 70, 1785-1790.
5.
J.N. Mcheik et al. Réparation chirurgical précoce des
fentes labiales. Revue de 218 enfants (263 fentes labiales) opérés. Ann Chir
Plast Esthet. 2002 ; 47 :
204-9.