A modification of the Kernahan "Y" classification in cleft lip and palate deformities.

The search for a universally accepted system of classifying cleft lip and palate deformities has yielded many models of varying complexity. Recently, there has been a trend toward symbolic classification systems that allow members of the cleft team to quickly assess the nature of the deformity. The existing systems, however, have limitations. These include inadequate description of the cleft lip deformity and complexity of nomenclature. A modification of Kernahan's striped Y classification is proposed that addresses these problems. This system was applied to 150 cleft patients, and it was found that it was able to describe all varieties of clefts encountered. In contrast, the Kernahan system could only describe 74.7 percent of the patients adequately.