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History of Cleft Treatment

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Fundamentals of Craniofacial Malformations

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Abstract

The history of cleft lip and palate documentation and the description of possible treatment options are based on the time, culture, and religion. Whereas in Greek culture and religion the presence of cleft lip and palate was ignored, Spartans and Romans had the tendency to kill these children, as they were considered to harbor evil spirits. The first documented cleft lip surgery is from China in 390 BC. For a long period of time, no efforts or advances were presented and documented. In the Middle Ages, operations on cleft lip have been described several times. The period between the Renaissance and the nineteenth century led to a biological and surgical orientation to the presence of patients having cleft lip and palate malformations. In this period, physicians reported on the embryological understanding of cleft lip and palate formation and described surgical approaches to close the cleft deformity. Whereas the closure of the lip region was approached and succeeded earlier, a successful operation on cleft palate however did not occur until 1816. The modern era of cleft surgery is connected with the names of C. W. Tennison, Peter Randall, and Ralph Millard. Based on the triangular technique in plastic surgery, these surgeons introduced basic principles of cleft closure, which are still in use now. The modern cleft surgery is based on all these basic principles, but has seen multiple refinements of technical approaches, which have been made possible due to the advancements in child anesthesia.

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  1. Center for Jaw-, Face- and Skull Surgery, Münster, Germany

    Ulrich Meyer

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  1. Center for Jaw-, Face- and Skull Surgery, Münster, Germany

    Ulrich Meyer

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Meyer, U. (2023). History of Cleft Treatment. In: Meyer, U. (eds) Fundamentals of Craniofacial Malformations. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28069-6_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28069-6_5

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