Surgical treatment of unilateral cleft lip and palate - own experience.

AIMS the aim of this paper is to present the final modification to a one-step operation of unilateral cleft lip and palate, together with a plaster-model representation of the shape of the palate in the 5th , 10th and 15th year of life of the patients treated at the Institute of Mother and Child. A modified one-step surgical technique for treating cleft lip and palate is presented. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study included 265 children and adolescents from the years 1980-2000. The paper also discusses the so-called critical points relating to the surgical technique which to a large extent makes it possible to avoid complications. In addition, the importance of conducting the treatment by a multidisciplinary team is emphasised. CONCLUSIONS Based on many years of experience and my own research, I believe that the use of the one-step surgery method in children with cleft lip and palate, as well as conducting the treatment in a multidisciplinary team, quickly restores the correct anatomical conditions in the craniofacial area and enables further growth and development similar to normal physiological phenomena. The need for subsequent orthognathic procedures may largely be due to genetic factors.