| REVIEW ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2009 | Volume
: 42
| Issue : 3 | Page : 79--90 |
Repair of bilateral cleft lip and its variants
John B Mulliken
Department of Plastic and Oral Surgery, Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Correspondence Address:
John B Mulliken
Children's Hospital Boston, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115
USA
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DOI: 10.4103/0970-0358.57194 PMID: 19884685
The surgeon who lifts a scalpel to repair a bilateral cleft lip and nasal deformity is accountable for: 1) precise craftsmanship based on three-dimensional features and four-dimensional changes; 2) periodic assessment throughout the child's growth; and 3) technical modifications during primary closure based on knowledge gained from long-term follow-up evaluation. These children should not have to endure the stares prompted by nasolabial stigmata that result from outdated concepts and technical misadventures. The principles for repair of bilateral complete cleft lip have evolved to such a level that the child's appearance should be equivalent to, or surpass, that of a unilateral complete cleft lip. These same principles also apply to the repair of the variants of bilateral cleft lip, although strategies and execution differ slightly.
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