What is Cleft Lip & Cleft Palate?

The following blogs will take a closer look at the definition of Cleft lips and Cleft Palates and be more informative to you the reader.  It will have pictures of different types of cleft lips and cleft palate. 

So what is Cleft lip & Palate?

Cleft lip (cheiloschisis) and cleft palate (palatoschisis), 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 and/or a cleft palate. There are different types of cleft lip and cleft palate.  

Incomplete Cleft Lip- A cleft on one side of the lip that does not extend into the nose is called unilateral incomplete.-

Nathan has what is called a Bilateral Cleft Lip Complete, which is extremely rare.

Complete Cleft Lip- A cleft on one side of the lip that extends into the nose is called unilateral complete

Cleft palate - Cleft palate occurs when the roof of the mouth does not completely close, leaving an opening that can extend into the nasal cavity. The cleft may involve either side of the palate. It can extend from the front of the mouth (hard palate) to the throat (soft palate). Often the cleft will also include the lip. Cleft palate is not as noticeable as cleft lip because it is inside the mouth. It may be the only abnormality in the child, or it may be associated with cleft lip or other syndromes. In many cases, other family members have also had a cleft palate at birth.

More than 4 million babies are born each year in the United States and that means 5417 babies are born with cleft lip or cleft palate in the United States.  There is still no clear cut reason as to why babies are born with these abnormalities. 

Over the coming days, weeks and months I will be posting more information about these birth defects and how there affecting our family.  Please contact me anytime with any questions, comments, or concerns that you have about this blog.  

Resources Used for this article

http://www.chw.org/display/PPF/DocID/21809/router.asp