Modified Placement of C-flap in Unilateral Cleft Lip Repair to Avoid Alar Base Scar - A Retrospective Study

In spite of several techniques, Millard's approach for the correction of cleft lip still is widely used. Although versatile, it has certain drawbacks including scar contraction, short lip and notching. A modification of the 'C' arm helps to address this drawback. The purpose of this study was to describe the qualitative and quantitative outcomes of the author's modification of Millard's C flap.

Archival photographic records of cleft lip repairs and post-operative photos of cases treated by author were screened. Anthropometric measurements of the height and width of the lip, the height of the vermilion and the width of the alar base were considered. The outcome was quantified by comparing the ratio of each feature between the cleft and normal sides. The quality of cleft lip repair was assessed using the Steffensen criteria. Appropriate statistical tests were performed.

In all, 233 cases with a mean age of 4.46 ± 0.91 years and 106 (45.5%) males formed the study group. The mean lip height ratio was 0.936 ± 0.04, the mean lip width ratio was 0.938 ± 0.037, the mean vermillion height ratio was 0.9433 ± 0.35 while the mean alar base width ratio was 0.932 ± 0.35. The physical parameter ratios' mean difference between the normal side and the cleft side was below 0.06 mm.

The mechanism behind the drawback of the classical Millard's technique is discussed and compared with present modification. The authors' modification shows that modified Millard's technique produces better aesthetic outcomes.