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  • Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners

    Can cleft lip affect our daughter's teenage life socially and emotionally?

    Related Topic
    Cleft Lip / Palate
    Our baby girl just had surgery for cleft lip. Although the appearance will heal over time, we have noticed that the scars from most individuals with cleft lip remain quite apparent. Could this affect our daughter's future (espcially during teenage years) as there is great emphasis on appearance and fitting in?
    • 2 answers
    • Rachel Tosh
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  • Anonymous

    I hope that your daughters sugery has gone well. You may be interested in contacting Cleftpals. Cleftpals is a national voluntary organisation of parents and professionals who are involved in children born with a cleft condition. CleftPALS can assist with reliable and supportive information Telephone (02) 9294 8944.

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  • Rachel Tosh

    Speech Pathologist

    Rachel is a speech pathologist specialising in speech, language, literacy and feeding therapy with more than 10 years of experience. Her aim is to help … View Profile

    I would agree with the above comment - it would be well worth contacting CleftPALS.

    It is always difficult to predict ultimate outcomes for children but as with any child it will be important to help your daughter to learn a strong sense of self and how to succesfully interact socially with other children. Support her to develop good friendships from an early age and how to deal with any social situations that arise. 

    It is likely that your daughter will have some degree of residual scarring but it is also important to note that this kind of surgery has advanced in recent years and they are getting better and better long term outcomes for children now by performing surgery at the ideal age and using more advances surgical techniques. Those teens/adults you see had their repairs done more than a decade ago and there have been advances in practice since then. 

    Best of luck for you and your daughter now and in the future.

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