Labio Leporino

A CLEFT PALATE & HARELIP
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Nov 21, 2011 | By Lia Stannard
Lia Stannard has her Bachelor of Science degree in neuroscience with an emphasis on neuropsychology. She is a certified sexualassault crisis counselor. She has presented her research in memory at several national conferences. Stannard has been a freelance writer for more than five years, covering women's health, politics andmedicine.
A cleft palate and harelip are two birth defects that can occur together. A cleft palate affects the roof of the mouth, leaving an opening in the palate. Patients with a harelip have a gap inthe lip. The Merriam-Webster dictionary notes that "harelip" is considered sometimes offensive, with cleft lip being the preferable term.
Statistics
The Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanfordexplains that in the United States each year, one in 700 babies have a cleft palate and cleft lip, making it the fourth most common birth defect in the country. MedlinePlus adds that one in 2,500children born each year have just a cleft palate.
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Types
KidsHealthfrom Nemours points out that three types of cleft exist. Some children have just a cleft palate with no damage to the lip tissue. Other children have just a cleft lip, with the gap stopping at the lip.Patients can have both a cleft palate and cleft lip, in which the gap in the lip and palate join together.
Identification
Doctors classify a cleft palate, cleft lip or both as unilateral orbilateral. For example, KidsHealth from Nemours explains that a child with an unilateral cleft lip has a gap in the tissue that can extend from either his left or right lip up to his nostril. Some cleft lipsmay be just a small gap on the lip that does not go up to the nostril. If a child has an unilateral cleft palate, the gap occurs on either the left or right side of the roof of the mouth. MedlinePlus...