Patient: Born on 2009-2-15, my baby has a cleft lip and palate of degree II. Is it better to do the surgery for cleft lip and cleft palate separately or combined? Since my baby will be three months old soon, I would like to know which approach would be better? I have been to several hospitals with my baby, and some doctors said to do cleft lip surgery at three months and cleft palate surgery at one year old; however, some doctors said to let the baby have cleft lip and palate surgery together at 5~6 months.
Oral and maxillofacial surgery: The majority of hospitals in China and abroad repair cleft lips at around 3 months and cleft palates at over 1 year. It is not necessary to do cleft lip and palate at the same time because the result is not good. Only very few hospitals in China and abroad repair them at the same time.