How hard is the surgery to fix a cleft lip and palate?

Easy: As with any surgical procedure - experience is key. An experienced cleft surgeon can repair a simple cleft lip in 30 minutes while a more complex procedure might take 2 hours.

Routine: There are usually a couple of offices in any metropolitan area that form cleft palate "teams". They are usually made up of ent, plastic and oral surgeons. In the hands of one of these experienced groups, the surgeries are becoming more and more routine. While some defects can be more difficult to correct, they have amazing success rates and excellent outcomes.

Complicated in Steps: Every cleft is different and its repair will depend on the position of the premaxilla ( the bone that normally supports the 4 incisors which may be quite forward in the newborn) and the amount & quality of available surrounding tissue to design flaps to close the defect. It usually requires a team to plan and patient need years of follow-up as they grow and teeth erupt.