The relation between cleavage lines and postoperative scars after repair of cleft lip

The "rotation-advancement method" was used for primary repair of the incomplete cleft lip in six infants. The skin cleavage lines were visualized using the tissue ablated in the operation. On examining the relation between the post-cheiloplasty scar formation and the direction of the cleavage lines, the scar remained less conspicuous where the incisions parallelled the cleavage lines but grew hypertrophic where the incisions crossed the cleavage lines.