Lips and noses in 10-year old patients with repaired complete unilateral clefts of lip, alveolus, and palate. A prospective three-centre study of the Baltic Cleft Network.

This multicenter study aimed at comparing different techniques of lip and nose repair with or without NAM and primary anterior rhinoplasty in pre-adolescent children. Patients with unilateral clefts of lip, alveolus, and palate who had undergone cleft lip and nose repair were evaluated in a prospective three-centre study using standardized monochromatic, cropped photographs. Four cleft surgeons evaluated the aesthetics of the central part of the face when the patients had reached age ten years. Seventy-six sets of photographs out of 87 patients were evaluated. The overall ratings of lips and noses did not differ much between centres. However, noses of centres 1 (mean 0.74; SD 0.57) and 2 (mean 0.76; SD 0.60) had been rated better than centre 3 (mean 1.32; SD 0.78; p = 0.0078), especially "Deformation of upper part of nostril rim or poor position of alar cartilage". Centre 3 had produced better looking scars (mean 0.33; SD 0.48); p = 0.0036. Within the limitations of the study it seems that NAM and primary anterior rhinoplasty including postoperative nasal stents should be performed whenever possible in order to achieve a favorable shape of the nose and to reduce the need for secondary corrective surgery.

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Copyright © 2021 European Association for Cranio-Maxillo-Facial Surgery. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of competing interest There is no conflict of interest whatsoever. Some little money, however, was granted from the German Academic Exchange Service in order to ease the financial burden of travelling to one or the other centre for the yearly meetings.