Skulls with facial clefts. Experimental surgery on the facial skeleton

Skulls of adult, unoperated patients with facial clefts show additional anomalies specific for the type of cleft. In an experimental study we demonstrated that similar anomalies develop in rabbits with clefts that are artificially made in the fourth week after birth. Some surgical methods (Veau, primary osteoplasty) for correction of facial clefts are compared with regard to their effect upon later growth of the skull of young rabbits. The importance of experimental surgery preceding the introduction of new surgical techniques on the growing skull and its facial skeleton in particular is stressed.