Cleft Lip Before and After Pictures

In these cleft lip before and after pictures, you’ll see the amazing work our team of volunteer surgeons has done to help children in these medically under-privileged countries feel a renewed sense of pride. In these cleft lip pictures from before the operation you’ll see how the nose and lip are separated by the cleft. The cleft lip pictures from approximately one year after the operation show almost no visible signs of the past deformity, aside from a thin scar.

What you can’t see from the cleft lip pictures is that some of the clefts extend beyond the lip and into the roof of the mouth and the soft tissue in the back of the throat, which is referred to as a cleft palate. Children with cleft palates experience a great deal of difficulty with their eating, swallowing, and proper speech development.

There’s a dual reason why many of the children you see in these cleft lip before and after pictures are from developing countries. While about one out of 800 babies in the United States is born with a cleft lip or cleft palate - the fourth-most common birth defect in the United States, it is estimated that in the developing world, the number of babies born with this deformity is one in 500-600. The second reason is that the average person in many developing countries doesn’t have access to reconstructive facial surgeons. Without groups like Operation Smile, many of these children live with this correctable deformity their entire lives.

For more cleft lip before and after pictures click here.

Link to Operation Smile!