Nasal deformity and microform cleft lip in parents of patients with cleft lip.

OBJECTIVE: To describe subtle nasal deformities and microform cleft lips in parents whose children have complete cleft lip deformities.
DESIGN: Clinical analyses of three parents whose children had complete cleft lips. Subtle nasal deformities and microform cleft lips were identified.
SETTING: An institutional general hospital: Manuel Gea González Cleft Lip and Palate Clinic in Mexico City, Mexico. PATIENTS: The study first examined the parents of all complete and incomplete cleft lip-palate patients who were seen from March 1994 to February 1997 by the authors (n = 1000). We identified three patients, each of whom had one parent who showed signs of subtle nasal deformity and microform cleft lip.
INTERVENTIONS: None for the parents. Interventions in the children with cleft lips and palates were known. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Qualitative photographic analyses were performed. Nostril symmetry, septal deviation, nasal floor position, and orbicularis oris malinsertions were carefully examined.
RESULTS: Three of the evaluated parents had one alar cartilage caudally displaced and a deviated septum. One parent's nasal floor was depressed. Two parents also had evidence of a minimal orbicularis oris muscle fissure located in the upper lip.
CONCLUSION: Genetic evaluations of children with complete and incomplete cleft lips might also include thorough evaluation of their parents. Although small in size, this study of three case histories identified nasal and lip deformities in the patients' parents.