In patient care of cleft lip and palate

By: DR HINA ADNAN

DNT 472

• Cleft lip and cleft palate , which can also occur together as cleft lip and palate, are variations of a type of clefting congenital deformity caused by abnormal facial development during gestation. A cleft is a fissure or opening—a gap. It is the non-fusion of the body's natural structures that form before birth. Approximately 1 in 700 children born have a cleft lip or a cleft palate or both

Cleft lip and palate

• Unilateral incomplete 

Classification of cleft lip

• Unilateral complete

• Bilateral complete

• Incomplete cleft palate

Classification of cleft palate

Unilateral complete lip and palate

• Bilateral complete lip and palate

• The diagnosis is made at the time of birth by physical examination

Diagnosis

• Cleft lip and palate is very treatable; however, the kind of treatment depends on the type and severity of the cleft.

• Most children with a form of clefting are monitored by a cleft palate team or craniofacial team through young adulthood.[Care can be lifelong. Treatment procedures can vary between craniofacial teams. For example, some teams wait on jaw correction until the child is aged 10 to 12 (argument: growth is less influential as deciduous teeth are replaced by permanent teeth, thus saving the child from repeated corrective surgeries), while other teams correct the jaw earlier (argument: less speech therapy is needed than at a later age when speech therapy becomes harder). Within teams, treatment can differ between individual cases depending on the type and severity of the cleft.

Treatment

• Your doctor may give you a special liquid for cleaning the wound. Use a cotton swab (Q-tip) to do so.

• Begin at the end that is closer to the nose.• Always begin cleaning away from the incision in

small circles. Do not rub right on the wound.• If your doctor gave you an antibiotic ointment,

put it on your child's incision after it is clean and dry.

Post surgical care instructions.

• Feed your child only the way your doctor or nurse told you.

• Do not give your child a pacifier.• Babies will need to sleep in an infant seat, on their backs.• Do not hold your child with their face toward your

shoulder. They can bump their nose and harm their incision.

• Keep all hard toys away from your child.• Use clothes that do not need to be pulled over the child's

head or face.

THANKYOU