Reconstruction of the oral commissure in patients with unilateral transverse facial cleft

The normal commissure is not a simple joint of the upper and lower lip, but a triangular mucosal area. To reconstruct a symmetrical oral commissure in patients with a unilateral transverse facial cleft, we designed composite vermilion flaps, including triangular flaps. We retrospectively studied 17 patients with unilateral transverse facial clefts from 2013-2016. Three-dimensional images were obtained with a 3-dimensional photogrammetry system at the 1-year follow-up, and we used an anthropometric method to evaluate the postoperative symmetry of the commissure. No obvious deformity was found during the follow-up examination, and comparison of the cleft and non-cleft sides by the paired samples t test showed that in all cases both horizontally and vertically symmetrical commissures had been achieved.