Surgical Treatment of Cleft Lip and Palate

Professor Hakan Agir presents a structured approach to cleft care as a long-term, multidisciplinary process rather than a single operation. The lecture follows the patient from prenatal counseling and early assessment through lip repair, primary rhinoplasty, palatal surgery, alveolar bone grafting, orthognathic surgery and later revisions.

Particular attention is given to the details that shape long-term outcomes: precise marking, muscle reconstruction, nasal floor closure, septal repositioning, management of bilateral clefts, and protection of the greater palatine vessels during palatoplasty. Different techniques are compared without presenting any single method as universally superior.

The discussion also looks at speech, velopharyngeal insufficiency, hearing, maxillofacial growth and facial dynamics. Real clinical experience comes through in the practical warnings, evolving technique choices, documentation of results, and honest discussion of complications—from fistula formation and hypertrophic scars to airway risks. The Q&A adds further insight into dangerous pitfalls, surgical planning, 3D simulation and how to approach difficult cases.