Effect of presurgical infant orthopedics on facial esthetics in complete bilateral cleft lip and palate.

A sample of 40 teenage individuals with repaired complete bilateral cleft lip and palate, 20 of whom had received presurgical infant orthopedics, was obtained to test the effects of presurgical infant orthopedics on facial esthetics. All subjects had surgery by the same surgeon. The age and sex distribution was approximately equal between the two groups. A panel of five judges evaluated the lip and nose esthetics from full face and profile slides and a mean panel score for each subject was derived for six individual features and three total scores. No difference in the esthetic scores between the two groups could be detected. No differences were found in the number of revisionary surgical procedures required to the lip or nose. The findings indicate that conservative presurgical orthopedics for infants with complete bilateral cleft lip and palate has no lasting effect on the esthetics of the lip and nose, and does not alter the need for subsequent revisionary surgery.