Effects of Lip Repair on Maxillofacial Morphology in Patients with Unilateral Cleft Lip with or without Cleft Palate

Objective : To evaluate the effects of lip repair on maxillofacial development of patients with unilateral cleft lip with or without cleft palate. Design : Retrospective. Patients : A total of 75 patients were recruited, including 38 surgical patients with complete unilateral cleft lip and alveolus and 37 patients with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate who had lip but not palate repair. As controls, 38 patients with no cleft were selected. All subjects were divided according to two growth stages: before the pubertal peak (GS1) and after the pubertal peak (GS2). Interventions : Lateral cephalograms of all subjects were obtained. Main Outcome Measures : Cephalograms were analyzed and compared in the study and control groups. Results : The patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate in both GS1 and GS2 demonstrated an almost normal maxillary and mandibular growth with retroclined maxillary incisors. The patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate showed a shorter length of maxilla, a more clockwise-rotated mandible, and retroclined maxillary incisors. Conclusions : There was an almost normal maxillary and mandibular growth but retroclined maxillary incisors in patients with cleft lip with or without cleft palate who had received lip repair only, indicating that lip repair may not have a negative impact on the maxillofacial development and influences only the inclination of the maxillary incisors. The shorter anterior-posterior maxillary length and larger gonial angle in patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate compared with those in patients with unilateral cleft lip and alveolus suggest that these variations in maxillary and mandibular growth may be a consequence of the cleft itself.