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Cleft Lip Scars

The most common birth defects in the United States are Cleft Lip and a Cleft Pallet.  Cleft Lip occurs in Children who are born with a facial deformity called Cheiloschisis or Cleft Lip which occurs during the 4th and 7th week of pregnancy. This occurs as a result of the tissue that creates the lip not joining completely before birth resulting in an opening in the lip.  Children with a cleft lip may also have a cleft pallet.  The pallet, which is the soft tissue on the roof of your mouth, is formed between the sixth and ninth week of pregnancy. Like the cleft lip, it is a result of the tissue not joining correctly.

Under normal circumstances, a baby’s jaw, nose and mouth fuse together to form a solid lip and palate. However, for some children, the bones and tissue do not completely fuse leaving them with either a cleft lip, cleft palette, or in some cases a cleft lip and palette.  Children who are born with either a cleft lip either or a cleft pallet may experience problems with feeding, talking, ear infections, hearing loss and teeth. 

The Center for Disease Control and prevention (CDC) estimates that 2,651 babies in the United States are born with a cleft palate each year and 4,437 babies are born with a cleft lip with or without a cleft palate.1  Cleft lip is more common than cleft palate. Isolated orofacial clefts, or clefts that occur with no other birth defects, are one of the most common birth defects in the United States. About 70% of all orofacial clefts are isolated clefts. 1

Fortunately, modern medicine has the ability, via a surgical procedures, to correct this condition.  The surgeries will not only repair the birth defect but may also help to improve breathing, hearing, feeding and speech.  However, like most surgeries, the child will retain a cleft lip scar after the procedure. While the cleft lip scar will diminish over time and therefore be less noticeable than it was after the wound initially healed, some cleft lip and cleft palette patients are still self-conscience about their scar and would like it’s appearance reduced even further. Luckily, for these patients, there are options.

Since the 1980’s silicone gel sheeting has been the gold standard of scar healing.  However, it was limited to only covering large areas, was not flexible and was very noticeable.  With the advent of modern science, silicone is now available in a gel form. Topically applied Silicone gel scar treatment management is now available for use by people wishing to minimize the appearance of cleft lip scars.  It will help with both new and old scars and can be used as a segue between surgeries to help manage the area as much as possible before the next cleft lip scar surgery.  It is an effective way to help reduce the appearance of a cleft lip scar. By applying a silicone-based scar management treatment gel or cream to the surgical site as soon as the wound is healed, it not only protects the outer area from bacteria but it helps to add moisture to the area. Essentially, by using a topical silicone-based scar treatment management product, the patient is able to form a barrier over their scar which will enable the patient to retain moisture around the scar.  As a result, the cleft lip scar reduces in appearance. Silicone gel is generally preferred over silicone cream for cleft lip scar management because it is odor-free, is clear, quickly absorbed into the skin and will not be visible, unlike the silicone creams. 

References

• Content source: Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, NCBDDD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/birthdefects/cleftlip.html