Background: Referring cleft patients to a specialized
medical center at the earliest possible time after birth provides
the best outcome and minimizes possible complications. For
diversity of economic and social factors, some patients may
not receive the adequate care and surgical repair at the proper
time and present late in adulthood with totally or partially
unrepaired clefts.
Patients and Methods: Patients with untreated primary
cleft deformity older than 16 years, who were treated at The
Department of Plastic Surgery, Sohag University, in the period
between 2009 and 2019, were retrospectively reviewed. The
assessment included evaluation of demographic data (age at
first consultation and sex distribution), type and laterality of
cleft, patients' social and educational status, and previous
cleft surgeries. Patients' satisfaction following surgery was
also assessed.
Results: All adult patients with untreated primary cleft
deformity in this study were males, unilateral cleft lip and
palate was the commonest deformity. Majority of patients had
no education. Marriage was the main motive for having surgery
done. All patients were moderately to highly satisfied with
surgical outcomes.
Conclusions: Although uncommon nowadays, unrepaired
primary cleft deformity in adults can still be seldom reported
in some patients especially in lower socioeconomic classes.
Surgical repair is more challenging and need more radical
solutions, but it achieves good satisfaction in all patients.