Cleft Lip without Cleft Palate

Sana - posted on 10/30/2012

My daughter is now 11 weeks old her surgery for a partial cleft lip will be next week. She will have a minor nose repair and they said one surgery will do the trick! Some children may require to go back before kindergarten foot a revision only for the fact it may be noticeable and other kids notice the difference so they fix it better. Children heal so quickly as another mom said I believe it will be tougher on us parents!

Jessica - posted on 01/07/2011

Villy--Don't worry too much about her nose. It won't look "normal" most likely, depending on if its bilateral or unilateral. If its bilateral it should look more normal. I have a unilateral cleft, but I'm really the only one who notices a difference in my nose. Try to keep things out of reach that she might put in her mouth to keep her from tearing out her stitches. Also, my mom said she used to put cold wash clothes on my lip while I was healing to help with the discomfort. Just follow you doctor's instructions for care and you'll be fine. Four months is not late at all. Rest assured that your daughter will be fine. The repair is fairly straight to the point and even if it doesn't look completely normal now, there is always lip revision when she is older. They did mine when I was twelve and you can barely notice anything.

Villy - posted on 12/31/2010

my baby was also born with cleft lip only.....please share with me how to take care of her after the surgery.... her nose is also pulled down abit... I am so worried about her nose.... will it look normal after the surgery? do shere with me your experience. my baby will have surgery next year in Feb, at 4 months. is that late?.

Jessica - posted on 08/24/2010

LeeAnn, don't worry. I was born with a complete cleft palate and unilateral cleft lip. Had I been born with just a cleft lip, I would only have had 2 surgeries in my life--the initial repair and a lip revision when I was 12. I probably could use/need a nose revision, but I never had one done and rarely anybody even notices that I have a scar on my lip or that my nose is slightly asymmetrical. Good luck to you and your baby!!

Oonagh - posted on 07/16/2010

Congrats LeeAnn on the birth of your baby. Like you, we too had no history of clefts. Our son had surgery for his bilateral cleft lip at 12 weeks of age and he was heartbreaking to be honest to think about him having to go through surgery, but it was amazing after a couple of days how different he looked and now at nearly 9 months of age his scars are barely visible. It is amzing what surgeons can do these days. I rub vit E oil into his lip every morning and I always ensure he wears a high factor sunscreen so as to ensure the scar does not go brown from the sun, as other wise it will not fade. He is still as handsome as the day he was born. One surgery is all that was required, we had our review two weeks ago and there may or may not be further surgery when he is three, but we wont knkow until then, as they have to wait and see how the gum and lip grow together first.
I ope this helps somewhat

Nicole - posted on 06/27/2010

Well, it depends how severe the cleft is. My daughter was born with a bi-lateral cleft lip and palate and they only did the one surgery on her lip and it turned out great. You are very lucky that your baby was only born with the cleft lip. The palate can be a very tricky surgery, The parents i know personally who have a child with cleft lip surgery only have the one surgery to repair. It is amazing what the plastic surgeons can do. Every day my daughters repair looks better and better. Good Luck!

Amanda - posted on 06/06/2010

My son was born in oct. 08 with a cleft lip only. He had one surgery at Duke and will need one more to fix his gum line (He can't grow a tooth because of a notch in his gum line so they need to do bone grafting) He had his surgery at 3 Months and looks great!! He has a little white line on his lip and his nostrils are not exactly the same shape but no one notices :)

Caroline - posted on 03/24/2010

Oh and she never had any restraints on her arms.

Caroline - posted on 03/24/2010

Hiya, My daughter Mia was born March 08 and she was born with a unilateral cleft lip on the left side. Palate was fine Thank God. She had an op when she was 3 months and she may need one more when her adult teeth are through! It's tough going through it all but when it's over it's easy to forget!

Marly - posted on 01/21/2010

oh and his nose was also slanted from the cleft, but he corrected that at the same time. When my son woke up after the surgery, he was out of it from the anesthetic, but he had a nap and it was like he never had the surgery. He was bright and happy, and the same old baby. Like someone else said, its much harder on the parents when its done at such a young age.

Marly - posted on 01/21/2010

Hi! My son was born with a cleft lip withoutthe palette. We also had NO history of clefts in our family, and my son was overdue. At 3 months he had the surgery. That is the only surgery he will need. He is 10 months now and you would never even know that he had one. I would get referred to a childrens hospital and they have amazing doctors that do that type of surgery everyday! We are some of the lucky ones who only have to deal with a cleft lip. Its amazing what they can do. So they like to do it early (like 3 months) because their tissue heals and regenerates super fast still. And as each month goes by after its done, the scar fades and fades into a teeny white line that you only notice if youre looking. :) Good luck LeeAnne.

Christy - posted on 01/16/2010

my son was born at 33.5 weeks he had an unilateral incomplete cleft of the left side and complete stenosis of the right nare...my doctor didnt do the repair til Lee was 6 months old..and as far as surgeries go it depends what and how serious the other cranofacial defects are..my son just had the 4 th surgery on his nose and they are many to come

Crystal - posted on 01/14/2010

my son was born with the same thing almost 8 years ago and at that time the rule was 999 - 9 lbs, 9 weeks and a hemoglobin level of at least 9 - the number of surgeries will have to do completely with the quality of your surgeon and the severity and shape of the cleft. sometimes they have more or less to work with. if you have any questions feel free to contact me, i've been through it, still goin through it!! good luck

Juliane - posted on 12/01/2009

LeeAnn i was just wondering how your appointment went and if you have any more questions!

Bessie - posted on 11/09/2009

well the same hapened with my son there is NO history of cleft at all on eatherside of our family but he was born with a unilateral cletf lip and a bilateral incomplete palate they are telling us concitering we are going to childreds in dallas texas he will have his first surgery at 3 months if he is 10 lbs and that will cover his nose, lip , solf palate and tubs in his ears if he needs them .just how many there are to come, that is a question you may never know. it really will all depend on just how the surgerys go.

LeeAnn - posted on 11/05/2009

talked to the doctors today over the phone. they told us 3months or 10lbs. We have a appt for the doctors to look at her on Nov. 18.

Courtney - posted on 11/04/2009

My daughter was born with a unilateral cleft lip. There was also no family history, and we did not know prior to her birth. She had her surgery at 3 months. They say if they have to do a second one they like to do it right before they start school, around 4. Day of surgery was hard, and the day after when we brought her home. It was hard to see her in pain, and then sedated on pain meds. Arm restraints were worn for 3 weeks, she got used to them. It all goes very quickly and she looks amazing, most people don't even know she ever had it. You will find this group very helpful! You may even want to go back to some old posts for info, it really helped me get more information. Good luck with everything! and congrats on your little one!!

LeeAnn - posted on 11/03/2009

Quoting Juliane:

Quoting LeeAnn:

Quoting Juliane:

My daughter was born with a left cleft lip. the palate was all ok! We live in australia and our surgeon wanted the operation to be done at 3-4 weeks old. but due to him being busy it was not done till 6 weeks old. it was just the 1 operation. He told us that sometimes the nose is crooked so that the need another operation later on in life to fix that but my daughter is only requiring the 1. some surgeons do not do the operation until 6 months. I hope all goes well and it there are anymore questions feel free to ask me.

this is my daughter! Let me know what you think about the surgery.

 

How old is your baby now? Where abouts do you live? When i look at the pictures of your daughter he lip looks the same as my daughters did! my daughter had her lip repaired at 6 weeks old she is now 7 months old.

When the surgeon said that he recommended doing the lip repair at 3-4 weeks old it seemed like it would be scarey. well due to him being on holidays he did her op at  6 weeks. He was done hundreds of these types of operations and that asured us that it would be ok.

The surgeon we had is located in townsville, qld. he does both private and public patients. I was very scared and stressed before she had her operation but everything works out in the end. 

I know that you will be feeling very scared and stressed at the moment but try to relax and not stress as much as possible as baby's can feel our stress.

This site helped me with alot of my fear before the operation. The operation lasted 2 hrs and when she came out she was not in that much pain.

I was very lucky that i had been able to breast feed her since she was born. So when she had the operation she was not able to be feed for 2 days she had to be tube feed through her nose. if she would of been bottle feed she would of been had to be feed for 5 days through the tube.

she was in hospital for 5 days before we could take her home.

For the 1st 6 weeks she had to have her arms in splints and she didnt really like that as she is a thumb sucker.

She has all healed now but has abit of hard scar tissue that they say might have to be operated on in the future.

I look back and see the earliest that it gets done the better. before they start teething and moving around too much.

 

Im here for you if you want to know anything just ask!

She will be a month old on the 10th. We live in Batesville Arkansas. We got a call from the hospital it will be donr at today but i never recieved a call back. maybe 2marrow.

Miranda - posted on 11/03/2009

could be 5 or 6 months all depends on the child,i am guessing and hunter has had 6 on his face but every cleft is different :) you will be fine and so will your baby .

Juliane - posted on 11/02/2009

Quoting LeeAnn:

Quoting Juliane:

My daughter was born with a left cleft lip. the palate was all ok! We live in australia and our surgeon wanted the operation to be done at 3-4 weeks old. but due to him being busy it was not done till 6 weeks old. it was just the 1 operation. He told us that sometimes the nose is crooked so that the need another operation later on in life to fix that but my daughter is only requiring the 1. some surgeons do not do the operation until 6 months. I hope all goes well and it there are anymore questions feel free to ask me.

this is my daughter! Let me know what you think about the surgery.

 

How old is your baby now? Where abouts do you live? When i look at the pictures of your daughter he lip looks the same as my daughters did! my daughter had her lip repaired at 6 weeks old she is now 7 months old.

When the surgeon said that he recommended doing the lip repair at 3-4 weeks old it seemed like it would be scarey. well due to him being on holidays he did her op at  6 weeks. He was done hundreds of these types of operations and that asured us that it would be ok.

The surgeon we had is located in townsville, qld. he does both private and public patients. I was very scared and stressed before she had her operation but everything works out in the end. 

I know that you will be feeling very scared and stressed at the moment but try to relax and not stress as much as possible as baby's can feel our stress.

This site helped me with alot of my fear before the operation. The operation lasted 2 hrs and when she came out she was not in that much pain.

I was very lucky that i had been able to breast feed her since she was born. So when she had the operation she was not able to be feed for 2 days she had to be tube feed through her nose. if she would of been bottle feed she would of been had to be feed for 5 days through the tube.

she was in hospital for 5 days before we could take her home.

For the 1st 6 weeks she had to have her arms in splints and she didnt really like that as she is a thumb sucker.

She has all healed now but has abit of hard scar tissue that they say might have to be operated on in the future.

I look back and see the earliest that it gets done the better. before they start teething and moving around too much.

Im here for you if you want to know anything just ask!

LeeAnn - posted on 11/01/2009

Quoting Juliane:

My daughter was born with a left cleft lip. the palate was all ok! We live in australia and our surgeon wanted the operation to be done at 3-4 weeks old. but due to him being busy it was not done till 6 weeks old. it was just the 1 operation. He told us that sometimes the nose is crooked so that the need another operation later on in life to fix that but my daughter is only requiring the 1. some surgeons do not do the operation until 6 months. I hope all goes well and it there are anymore questions feel free to ask me.

this is my daughter! Let me know what you think about the surgery.

Juliane - posted on 11/01/2009

My daughter was born with a left cleft lip. the palate was all ok! We live in australia and our surgeon wanted the operation to be done at 3-4 weeks old. but due to him being busy it was not done till 6 weeks old. it was just the 1 operation. He told us that sometimes the nose is crooked so that the need another operation later on in life to fix that but my daughter is only requiring the 1. some surgeons do not do the operation until 6 months. I hope all goes well and it there are anymore questions feel free to ask me.

Robyn - posted on 11/01/2009

First of all congratulations on your baby! Clefts are a common birth defect, I believe it is the 4th most common birth defect in the US & they still do not know what exactly causes them. Genetics can play a role but not all the time - from what I have read & talking to doctors - they say the environment can be a cause (basically unknown ; ).



My 1st son was born with a cleft lip & palate (complete, unilateral - left side) with no family history too (our 2nd & 3rd boys did not have a problem). His lip was repaired at 3 months (I know some doctors want the baby to be at least 10 lbs). It will be here before you realize it. Your baby will not remember this surgery, honestly it is tougher on us as parents. Babies are so resilient & heal so quickly!!! As far as how many surgeries - it really depends on the type of cleft. If it is unilateral then he/she may only need 1 at around 3 months to repair the lip & then a lip/nose revision when she is around 5. At least this is how my son's doctors does his. Talk to the craniofacial team at your local children's hospital too!