NASAL DEFORMITIES ASSOCIATED WITH CONGENITAL CLEFT OF THE LIP

Abstract

The results of operative repair of harelip vary from nearly perfect to plain bad; but, unless the original operator has been more than ordinarily inconsiderate in his denudation and suturing, the tissues can usually, by secondary operation, be rearranged to produce an approximately happy result. One or several abnormalities may cause the repaired lip to be displeasingly noticeable. Among these, the most common are ugly scars, notched lip, poor approximation of the vermilion border, increase in length of the upper lip at the expense of its width with a resulting narrowing of the mouth slit, flatness of the upper lip, and protrusion of the lower lip. On the other hand, the upper lip may be too short. Loss of the premaxilla is rare, but quite disfiguring. If the denuding incision is made within the thin tissue that may border a cleft, there will be a characteristic and very ugly bulging