Surgical Correction of Microform Cleft Lip by Small Triangular Flap

ABSTRACT

Cleft lip is one of the most common major facial malformation. The defect of the midline tissue on the upper lip is due to failure of the contact and fusion between mesenchymal tissues of the lip. Microform cleft lip is defined as the cleft of the lip with the minor degree of the deformity on the lip and the nose. The hallmarks of the microform cleft lip are a small notching of the vermilion, a vertical congenital fibrous band extending from the vermilion to the nostril floor, and a displaced alar cartilage on the cleft side. The surgical methods of microform cleft lip include Rose-Thomson straight line closure and Millard Rotation- advancement repair. Although those methods repaired the functional impairment effectively, they failed to achieve the cosmetic improvement because of the long incision scar on the upper lip. The authors applied Tennison's small triangular flap to the microform cleft lips of the 10 patients from July 1998 to January 2001. We excised the scar on the notch of the vermilion with minimal incision using Tennison's small triangular flap and repaired the discontinuity of orbicularis oris musculture. The asymmetric nostrils were also corrected appropriately. We followed up each case with constant intervals and could get good results esthetically without shortening of the upper lip and the contracture of the scar band.