Unilateral cleft lip and nasal repair: techniques and principles

Abstract

The Mashhad University of Medical Sciences and the Sheikh Hospital in Mashhad sponsored a Cleft Lip and Palate Workshop 30 April - 1 May 2009. During the Workshop, 6 surgical cases were performed and televised live to the audience attending the conference. Two of those cases were unilateral cleft lip repairs. The surgical technique used to repair these patients by the primary author (JGM) is a hybrid technique. It has evolved over the last decade as a result of prior surgical literature as well as first hand observation of various surgical colleagues. The following manuscript describes the surgical technique used at the Cleft Workshop in a step-wise or atlas-like fashion. The technique portion of the paper describes the repair of the unilateral cleft lip and nasal deformity in roughly the order the first author typically performs the procedure. More importantly, the final section of the paper details the principles that form the foundation for the techniques described.

Keywords: Cleft Lip; Cleft Nasal Repair; Unilateral Cleft Lip; Unilateral Cleft Techniques.

Figures

Fig. 1

Preoperative photograph (left) and schematic (right) of unilateral cleft nasolabial deformity cutaneous markings for cleft nasolabial repair

Fig. 2

Preoperative photograph (left) and schematic (right) of unilateral cleft nasolabial deformity mucosal markings for cleft nasolabial repair

Fig. 3

Intra-operative schematic of orbicularis oris repair

Fig. 4

Postoperative photograph (left) and schematic (right) of unilateral cleft nasolabial deformity post cleft nasolabial repair

Fig. 5

Preoperative photograph of unilateral cleft nasolabial deformity