How long does cleft palate surgery take to heal?
The scar should fade and become softer and flatter in the months and years after surgery. Hereof, how long does cleft palate surgery take to heal? It usually takes about 3 to 4 weeks for the incision to heal. Your child may need to wear padded arm restraints for 1 to 2 weeks after surgery to prevent him or her from rubbing the surgery area.
What to expect after cleft palate surgery?
What to Expect Post Surgery
- Cleaning the Incision. To start with, it is very important to ensure that the operated site is kept clean. ...
- Feeding. To minimize contact with the operated area, put the child on a liquid diet. ...
- Activities. It is important to ensure that the area is not exposed to any form of physical stress in the first 3 to 4 weeks.
- Aftercare Measures. ...
Is it necessary to repair soft cleft palate with surgery?
in both speech and feeding, surgical repair is necessary. Palate surgery is done by a plastic surgeon. Palate repair surgery is usually done between 9 and 18 months of age. Your plastic surgeon will discuss timing which will depend on your child’s general health and the type of cleft palate. Cleft palate surgery usually takes around 2–3 hours.
What are the treatments for cleft palate?
Treatment
- Team Approach to Treatment. ...
- Components. ...
- Approaches to Treating Cleft-Type Speech. ...
- Early Speech and Language Intervention. ...
- Feeding and Swallowing. ...
- Audiologic Care. ...
- Role of the Community-Based SLP in Treatment. ...
- Persisting Speech Difficulties. ...
- Transitioning to Adult Services. ...
- Cultural Considerations. ...
What is a palate repair?
Cleft palate repair is a surgery to fix a cleft, or hole, in the palate, or the roof of the mouth. Your child's cleft palate surgery will be done under general anesthesia (an-es-THEEZ-ya), which means that he or she will be sound asleep during the surgery.
What is a cleft medical term?
Medical Definition of cleft 1 : a usually abnormal fissure or opening especially when resulting from failure of parts to fuse during embryonic development. 2 : a usually V-shaped indented formation : a hollow between ridges or protuberances the anal cleft of the human body.
How do doctors repair a cleft palate?
The only way to repair a cleft palate is by surgery. The goal is to close the opening in the roof of the child's mouth. Your child will be in the operating room for only a few hours. The hospital stay is usually 1 to 3 days.
What is a synonym for cleft palate?
Alternate Synonyms for "cleft palate": birth defect; congenital anomaly; congenital defect; congenital disorder; congenital abnormality.
What does the medical term Glossoplegia mean?
bilateral paralysis of the tongueA unilateral or bilateral paralysis of the tongue.
When is cleft palate surgery done?
Most times, cleft palate repair is done when the child is older, between 9 months and 1 year old. This allows the palate to change as the baby grows. Doing the repair when the child is this age will help prevent further speech problems as the child develops.
What is Nasoalveolar molding?
Nasoalveolar molding (NAM) is a presurgical therapy used to reduce the size of the cleft or palate deformity of the lip, gum and nose before surgical repair. The goal of NAM is to reduce the size of the cleft deformity of the lip, gum and nose (oronasal deformity) before surgical repair.
When was the first cleft palate surgery?
In 1764, Le Monnier, a French dentist, successfully repaired a cleft velum with a few sutures and hot cautery of the edges. von Graefe, 50 years later, produced inflammation of the velar margins before bringing them together in his palate suture and is credited with performing the first velar repair of a cleft in 1816.
Why is cleft palate repair performed?
Cleft palate repair treats cleft palate. Left untreated, cleft palate can cause problems with feeding, growth and development, ear infections, hearing and speech, and dental health. Cleft palate repair prevents or minimizes these complications of cleft palate.
How is cleft palate repair performed?
Your child’s cleft palate repair will be performed in a hospital. The surgery takes between two to six hours, depending on the extent of surgery.
What are the risks and potential complications of cleft palate repair?
As with all surgeries, a cleft palate repair involves risks and potential complications. The majority of cleft palate repair procedures are successful, but complications may become serious and life threatening in some cases. Complications can develop during surgery or recovery.
How do I prepare my child for cleft palate repair?
You are an important member of your child's healthcare team. The steps you take before surgery can improve your child's comfort and outcome.
What can I expect after my child's cleft palate repair?
Knowing what to expect after cleft palate repair can help make your child's road to recovery as smooth as possible.
About The Author
THIS TOOL DOES NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE. It is intended for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Never ignore professional medical advice in seeking treatment because of something you have read on the site.
What is a cleft palate repair?
Cleft palate repair is of concern to plastic surgeons, speech pathologists, otolaryngologists and orthodontists with respect to the timing of the operation, the type of palatoplasty to be considered and the effect of the repair on speech, facial growth and eustachian tube function. The objective of this procedure is to close the palatal defect and create an adequately functioning velopharyngeal mechanism for normal speech production.
What is primary cleft lip repair?
The goals of primary cleft lip repair involve reconstruction of the normal anatomy and function of the lip, correction of the nasal deformity, and construction of the floor of the nose and proper alignment of the maxillary segments (gum-line).
Why do we need pharyngeal flaps?
The purpose of the z-plasty or pharyngeal flap procedures is to decrease the hypernasality and nasal emissions evident in speech. Nasal emission and nasality generally occur because a person can not consistently close the opening between the oral and nasal cavity.
What is the name of the opening in the mouth that allows food to move from the mouth to the nasal cavity?
Fistula repair. After the palatoplasty is performed the tissues may heal in such a way that there is still an abnormal opening, called a fistula. This opening may allow food to move from the oral to the nasal cavity when eating. It may also allow more air to pass out of the nose during speech.
How much weight do you need to have a bilateral lip repair?
The guideline followed is that children must weigh ten pounds before the surgery will be done. Bilateral lip repair may be done as one surgical procedure or may require a second procedure at least 8 weeks after the first surgery. Myringotomies and tubes may be inserted into the ears at the time of surgery if needed.
How old do you have to be to have lip surgery?
Clefts vary in severity from partial unilateral (one side) cleft to complete bilateral (both sides). Surgery of the lip will be performed at approximately 4-6 months of age. The child must be healthy and gaining weight. The guideline followed is that children must weigh ten pounds before the surgery will be done.
How long does it take for a child to go to the hospital after a cleft?
Most children spend 1 or 2 nights in the hospital following surgery. They will return for a follow-up appointment 3-4 weeks after surgery. A visit with the cleft surgeon and other members of the cleft team should occur 3-6 months later.
How to treat cleft lip and palate?
Treatment of cleft palate and cleft lip is by surgery, followed by measures to improve speech. A cleft palate should be reconstructed by plastic surgery when the child is about 18 months old, before he learns to talk. The corrective work usually requires only one operation.
Why is cleft palate bad?
Later it will hinder speech, because consonants such as g, b, d, and f, which are normally formed by pressure against the roof of the mouth, are distorted by resonance in the nasal cavity.
What is the fleshy lobe of the soft palate?
A fleshy lobe called the uvula hangs from the middle of the soft palate. adj., adj pal´atal. cleft palate see cleft lip and cleft palate. premaxillary palate ( primary palate) that portion of the palate that was the median nasal process during early development.
What is a fissure in the roof of the mouth?
n. A congenital fissure in the roof of the mouth, resulting from incomplete fusion of the palate during embryonic development. It may involve only the uvula or extend through the entire palate. The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2007, 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
How much weight can a child have after cleft lip surgery?
Cleft lip usually can be corrected by surgery when the child reaches a weight of 12 to 15 lb (5.4 to 7 kg), generally at the age of 2 to 3 months.
What is the term for failure of union of one of these embryonic clefts?
2. failure of union of one of these embryonic clefts; depending on the site, this causes such developmental defects as cleft cheek, cleft mandible, or cleft lip. Called also prosoposchisis. cleft lip ( cleft palate) congenital fissure, or split, of the lip (cleft lip) or of the roof of the mouth (cleft palate);
What is the hard palate?
The hard palate is the front portion braced by the upper jaw bones (maxillae); it has a bony framework and forms the partition between the mouth and the nose. The soft palate is the fleshy part arching downward from the hard palate to the throat; it separates the mouth and the pharynx.
