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Use of Buccal Fat Pad Flap in Palate Repair

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Surgical Atlas of Cleft Palate and Palatal Fistulae

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Abstract

Cleft palate is one of the common congenital abnormality. Definite treatment is surgery at 9 months to 18 months of age. Most of the procedures used in the repair leaves bare bone on the lateral side of palate. The raw areas heal in 3 weeks’ time with contraction and may become the reason of mid face retrusion in adult life. In order to avoid this, surgeons have started using “Buccal Fat pad Flap” into the lateral defect.

The technique of harvesting buccal fat pad flap is simple. An iris curved scissor is inserted in the superior buccal sulcus just lateral to the maxillary tuberosity. This results in protrusion of the buccal fat from the hole. This fat pad flap is then teased out gently and placed in the lateral palatal defect of expose bone. The lateral palatal flaps are sutured with gingiva with Polyglactin 4/0.

Advantages of the flap are early start of semisolid diet to child, less morbidity, less chances of infection, and early recovery. The healing by secondary contraction does not occur and chances of mid face retrusion are not there.

Among the disadvantages, a few investigators are skeptical about effect on growth of child face after use of buccal fat pad flap during infancy. But this doubt has not attracted any studies mentioning it. So, buccal fat pad flap is a good addition in the armamentarium of a cleft surgeon reducing the morbidity and complication rate in cleft patients.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plastic Surgery Department, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan

    Muhammad Ashraf Ganatra

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  1. Muhammad Ashraf Ganatra
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plastic Surgery, Services Institute of Medical Sciences/ CLAPP Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan

    Ghulam Qadir Fayyaz

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Ganatra, M.A. (2022). Use of Buccal Fat Pad Flap in Palate Repair. In: Fayyaz, G.Q. (eds) Surgical Atlas of Cleft Palate and Palatal Fistulae. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8124-3_37

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8124-3_37

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-15-8123-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-15-8124-3

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