Cleft Lip and Palate are the most common congenital malformations of the face and involve a variety of anomalies at the level of the upper lip , the upper jaw, the palate and soft palate, the nose and the auditory apparatus, implying a unilateral or bilateral lack of substance(gap) in the affected area. It represents the second most frequent congenital malformation in newborns. The gap is there because parts of the baby's face did not join together properly during development in the womb.

Cleft lip (cheiloschisis), can involve part or all of the lip, including the opening of the nostril.

Cleft palate can be isolated, without affecting the lip, it can involve hard and soft palate or only the soft palate.

Treatment for children with oro-facial clefts varies depending on the severity of the cleft, the age and needs of the child as well as the presence of associated syndromes or other congenital defects.

Family counseling begins during pregnancy, from the intrauterine diagnosis of the malformation, in close cooperation with the gynecologist. The preparation for the treatment takes place in this way under the best conditions, including feeding advice and techniques, devices for modeling and conforming the lip, nose and palate (NAM – NasoAlveolar Molding).

Surgical interventions to repair a cleft take place in the first months of life, the first being represented by plastic surgery of the lip(lip repair), followed shortly by plastic surgery of the palate and the alveolar process(palate repair). As the child grows, orthodontic treatments, aesthetic and functional nose surgery, bone transplant, bimaxillary surgery and other aesthetic interventions follow in adulthood.

Complex multidisciplinary treatment (surgeons specialized in clefts, malformations and deformities, orthodontists, anesthetists, ENT specialists, neonatologists and pediatricians, geneticists, speech therapists and psychologists) represents the "gold standard" in the treatment of these conditions, which solved incorrectly or without respecting the treatment protocol/steps lead to the appearance of difficult-to-correct complications that require successive surgical interventions.
With the treatment we perform, children with oro-facial clefts lead a perfectly normal and healthy life!
Young people will continue to be monitored throughout childhood and adolescence and may need further support. There are few long term effects of cleft palate and children grow up to lead normal lives, studying and working!