Velar closure and ear tubings as a primary procedure in the repair of cleft palates.

This ten-year study reviews 36 patients with complete clefts of the hard and soft palates treated with primary velar closure, bilateral myringotomies, and tubings performed when the infant was 12 to 15 months of age. The hard palate and prepalate were not closed until the child was at least 5 1/2 years of age. By early velar closure, a population with an almost 100% incidence of otitis media with effusion has been converted to a population with a 17% incidence of recurrent otitis media requiring repeat myringotomies and tubings.