Anthropometric profile evaluation of the midface in patients with cleft lip and palate

This study was done to determine those profile anthropometric measurements that are abnormal in the midface profile in patients with cleft lip and palate. The sample population consisted of 30 randomly selected skeletally mature white patients with cleft lip and palate who had been treated by the same team who were accredited by the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association. Twenty patients had unilateral and 10 had bilateral complete clefts. None of these patients had previously undergone orthognathic surgery or definitive rhinoplasty surgery. Fifteen facial anthropometric features were measured on each person's face. The result from this study showed that in patients with cleft lip and palate right versus left side differences did not exist and only four statistically significant differences existed between the unilateral and bilateral cases. However, in all patients, four of these esthetic facial features were consistently and significantly abnormal: obtuse nasofrontal angle: obtuse nasomental angle; a posteriorly positioned infraorbitale relative to globe; and an obtuse general facial angle. Several other features were abnormal in a high percentage of persons in this study. These were lack of supratip break, flat to concave paranasal contour, increased subnasale-alargroove:subnasale-pronasale ratio, decreased nasal protrusion:nasal length ratio, decreased nasolabial angle ratio, decreased maxillary length ratio, increased nasal bridge projection:nasal protrusion ratio, and deficient cheek contour. This data indicates that the major deformity in persons with adult cleft lip and palate exist in the nose and secondarily in other components of the midface.