Prolabial lengthening by Turkish tulip method in bilateral cleft lip repair

In bilateral cleft lip, there is a characteristic deformity called cleft lip nose characterized by short columella and prolabium with a pressed nose. Although lots of surgical techniques were described for columella lengthening and correction of the nose deformity, no technical method was suggested for prolabium lengthening.

In this paper we propose a simultaneous bilateral cleft lip repair and lengthening of the prolabium, and describe a new technique called "Turkish tulip" for this aim.

Eleven patients (6 males and 5 females) with bilateral cleft lip were treated using this method. Patients' ages ranged from 3 months to 17 years at the time of operation. Five patients had incomplete and six had complete bilateral cleft lips. The patients were evaluated in terms of functional and aesthetic results in postoperative period.

: The average follow-up time was 8 months (ranged from 4 months to 15 months). There were no postoperative complications. The prolabium was lengthened adequately in all patients. No notch and whistle deformity was seen in our series. The patient or parent satisfaction was good or perfect in all cases.

To avoid the disadvantage of the long time course required to correct the nose deformity and to lengthen the prolabium, we propose the "Turkish tulip" technique with the primary repair of bilateral cleft lips simultaneously. With this technique it is possible to lengthen the columello-prolabial complex with cleft lip repair in the same session without any intervention to any part of the nose including the columella. As a preliminary study, according to the early results, this new technique seems to have good cosmetic outcomes.