Facial aesthetics and perceived need for further treatment among adults with repaired cleft as assessed by cleft team professionals and laypersons

Orofacial clefts, including cleft lip with or without cleft palate, are among the most common visible birth defects, occurring in 1 of every 500 – 1000 live births worldwide ( Murray, 1995 ). With a prevalence of 14.7 per 10 000 births in Australia ( Lancaster and Pedisich, 1995 ), orofacial clefts are the most frequent congenital craniofacial deformities ( Sinko et al. , 2005 ). Cleft lip and palate irregularities vary greatly in terms of the width of the cleft and other characteristics, as well as the timing of surgery and technique of reconstruction. Treatment modalities may differ. Moreover, being the region where this deformity occurs, the face is a highly noticeable region of the body. In the long term, the treatment of cleft lip and palate should provide good aesthetic and functional results, including speech and occlusion ( Jeffery and Boorman, 2001 ). An issue associated with the treatment of cleft lip and palate patients is that it may be up to two decades before the de nitive results of treatment can be discerned. Due to the patient ’ s physical development and variability in the level of cooperation, it is dif cult to predict the  nal outcome when the cleft treatment is started. It has been suggested that the  nal result can only be assessed when the patient is about 20 years old ( Sinko et al. , 2005 ). Facial aesthetics and perceived need for further treatment