![]() There are superb teams dedicated to advocacy, to their care and support, and who work to address the needs of the children and their families. with these conditions are lucky to have these supports given the myriad challenges cleft lips and palates present. Beyond immediate medical care, individuals born with a cleft also tend to experience more learning difficulties, higher mortality rates at all stages of life, and higher risk for other disorders such as breast, brain and colon cancers.Ĭhildren born in the U.S. The total lifetime treatment cost is estimated to be at least US$200,000 per individual. Many years of intensive orthodontic treatment and speech therapy are routinely needed. However, the surgeries are often just the beginning. Children with clefts must endure multiple corrective surgeries, often beginning when they are only a few months old. Although clefts may seem like cosmetic problems, they adversely impact basic functions like eating and speaking. People with cleft lip and palate, as well as their families, face many issues associated with this birth defect. ![]() BruceBlaus/Wikimedia, CC BY-SA How clefts harm quality of life Thus, in a way, everyone starts out with clefts of the lip and palate.Ĭleft lip and palate are some of the most common birth defects worldwide. At this stage the face is merely a collection of swellings rapidly growing toward one another in order to fuse together and form the lips, nose and palate. These birth defects arise very early during development when the embryo is about the size of a grain of rice. The most common are cleft lip, when the upper lip does not form properly leaving a gap, and cleft palate, when the roof of the mouth does not close while a baby is developing in utero. There are several different types of facial clefts. And, what, if anything, can be done to prevent them? The ABC’s of clefting Given that January is National Birth Defects Prevention Month the three of us felt this was an opportunity explain how clefts form and how clefts affect the people who live with them. We are geneticists and a pediatric craniomaxillofacial surgeon. We have each devoted major portions of our professional lives to understanding what causes clefts and to the treatment and advocacy of those affected. Unfortunately, however, the incident was another reminder of how individuals with facial differences (and their families) often feel stigmatized and can face discrimination and social isolation. Note that it is also unclear whether Phoenix has a cleft lip or simply a scar. To her credit, Williams was quick to apologize. After discussing actor Joaquin Phoenix’s appearance on her talk show earlier this month, Wendy Williams received near universal condemnation for mocking those affected with cleft lip – a common birth defect in which the upper lip does not form completely while still an embryo.
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