Cleft Lip Surgery in India

Initially, Indian Plastic Surgeon Dr. Sushruta performed cleft lip surgery in India in the 8th century B.C. He is considered the “Father of Plastic Surgery”,

A Cleft lip is a birth defect:

  • A cleft lip may only be a tiny notch in the lip. There may also be a complete split in the lip that goes all the way to the base of the nose.
  • The cleft palate may be on one or both sides of the roof of the mouth. It may be the entire length of the palate.
  • Your child may have either or more of these birth conditions.

Procedure of Cleft Lip Surgery in India

Cleft lip repair is typically performed when the infant is 3 to 6 months old.

Your child will have general anesthesia for cleft lip surgery (asleep and not feeling pain). The surgeon will trim the tissues and stitch the lips together. The stitches are going to be very small so that the scar is as small as possible. Many stitches will be absorbed into the tissue when the scar heals, so they won’t have to be removed later.

Procedure of Cleft palate Surgery in India

Cleft palate repair is typically performed when the child is older, between 9 months and 1 year of age. This causes the palate to shift as the child grows. Doing the repair when the child is this age will help prevent further speech problems as the child develops.

In cleft palate repair, your child will have general anesthesia (asleep and not feeling pain). Tissue from the roof of the mouth may be moved over to cover the soft palate. Often a child may require more than one surgery to close a palate.

The surgeon may also need to repair the tip of your child’s nose during these procedures. The surgery is called rhinoplasty.

Baby girl from Mathura

This is a 3-month old baby girl from Mathura born with unilateral cleft lip. She also had a hole in the roof of the mouth involving the upper jaw (hard and soft palate). The patient’s mother was a known case of cleft lip and palate. There was also a familial history of clefts running through the generations.

Unilateral cleft lip

Cleft lip is a congenital split in the upper lip on one side often associated with cleft palate. Babies with cleft lip usually have difficulty in feeding. They may develop ear infections which may lead to hearing loss.

Cleft lip surgeon in India

Though aware of the condition the parents were very depressed. They felt that the lip and nose deformity might affect her future. The parents were planning to do cleft lip surgery in India. They were searching far and wide for the best cleft lip surgeon in India. A local physician referred them to our hospital. Dr. SM Balaji one of the leading cleft lip and palate surgeons in India examined the patient. He planned to perform surgical repair of the cleft lip at 3 months of age.

Primary cleft lip repair

Cleft lip and palate surgeon Dr. S.M. Balaji planned to perform primary lip repair at the age of 3 months. Unilateral cleft lip surgery is done using Modified Millard’s technique under general anesthesia. The cleft and plastic surgeons usually prefer this surgical procedure for children with cleft.

Surgical Results:

The result of the surgery was as expected. She looked like any other baby girl of her age with minimal to no scar. The parents were very pleased with the results. Cleft palate repair (cleft palate surgery) will be done at about 9 months of age. Alveolar Cleft defect reconstruction surgery with bone grafts will be planned at 3.5 years of age.