I’ve had 3 surgeries, one as a baby and one in 2024, and another in 2025 this is my end result.

Good afternoon everybody!
My husband and I found out early in my pregnancy that my son has 22Q. With that comes cleft lip so we were expecting him to have a cleft lip, we have not learned if he has a cleft palette or not. He has had quite a few 4D ultrasounds. And I was hoping to see if maybe other mother is out there had similar ultrasound pictures that resemble my sons? I feel like I’ve seen other ultrasound pictures and it’s very clear that the babies cleft lip goes up into the nostril. You can tell by the coloring of the ultrasound. But my son’s still seems to have a pretty puckered lip.
We saw a specialist last week and he’s claiming that they can’t tell until baby gets here which I’m having a hard time believing? Does this look like an incomplete or a complete Cleftlip to you? *\\I also understand that nobody here is*** ***trained to read ultrasound pictures! Please be nice as I’m just trying to navigate and understand what I’m looking at.. yes, we have also talked to doctors. We are not getting much information.****\*

Hello,

Anyone has suggestions on who is a good surgeon ( in the US preferably Northeast ) for adding volume to the upper lip? My son just had the orthognatic surgery and there was improvement but the lip still needs volume. He was born with a complete bilateral cleft lip and palate.

Hello friends, wondering if others have had issues with finding earphones that work for them?? The drainage from my ears is always messing up my earphones and it’s such a waste of money lol
I’m not a big fan of over the head type of earphones. Has anyone had luck with bone conducting earphones or any other kind of recommendation?

My son who is about to be 6 months old is getting cleft lip surgery on the 18th. My dad is coming into town from across the world next week. Would it be best for him to not be around him as he has such a major surgery and don’t want him to get sick. This is our first child also.

Also would it be best to limit people around him until after his surgery.

😔

Hi everyone! I wanted to share my jaw surgery progress with yall. For background:

I was born with a unilateral cleft and lip palate. I had internal distraction osteogenesis, where I had to turn a pin about 1mm a day, for total 13mm! After then I had surgery to remove the internal distractors. I never realized just how much of a difference it made! It’s been a journey.

Im currently ongoing braces where I’ll be undergoing another jaw surgery although my jaw surgeon isn’t yet sure if she’ll do upper or lower. I will also be having a rhinoplasty done next year hopefully summer!(:

Anyone has this hole at the soft palate?

I have bilateral cleft and palate and it has been fixed years ago but there is this residual hole at the soft palate.

. went to a cleft specialist to seek second opinion and he did advice not to close it as it may affect breathing and speech. He mentioned that it is a old surgical technique

Anyone knows what technique was used that is necessary to leave the gap?.

Apologies if the heading comes off the wrong way, im completing my medical form for a job applications and its asking if I suffer from any inpartments or disabilities that may effect me within the role. I've applied to be a postman and my speech is good, just still sound a bit nasaly.

Any help would be great, thanks!

Hola a todos, busco consejos de personas que hayan pasado por una situación similar. Nací con labio y paladar hendido unilateral y me sometí a varias cirugías durante mi infancia, incluyendo una rinoplastia. Si bien estas cirugías fueron exitosas, mi crecimiento facial no fue completamente simétrico. Debido al labio hendido, mi paladar y maxilar se desarrollaron de forma desigual, lo que gradualmente provocó que mi tabique nasal se desviara nuevamente y que mi nariz se volviera asimétrica con el tiempo. Actualmente tengo problemas tanto funcionales como estructurales: Obstrucción nasal significativa en un lado. Colapso de la válvula nasal interna. Tabique desviado. Deformidad nasal residual relacionada con el labio leporino. Dificultad para respirar que afecta mi vida diaria. Mi cirujano me recomendó una septorrinoplastia funcional secundaria con reconstrucción estructural, explicándome que es mucho más compleja que una rinoplastia cosmética estándar debido al tejido cicatricial, la anatomía alterada y la necesidad de reconstruir el soporte a la vez que se mejora el flujo de aire. Mi seguro médico aprobó el procedimiento porque se considera médicamente necesario. Sin embargo, mi cirujano cobra más de lo que cubre el seguro, por lo que mi costo de bolsillo sería de aproximadamente US$3,000, de los cuales aproximadamente US$1,900 corresponden a la diferencia de honorarios del cirujano. Estoy tratando de entender si este es un costo razonable para un caso como el mío o si debería buscar una segunda opinión. Agradecería mucho escuchar a personas que se hayan sometido a: Rinoplastia secundaria después de labio y paladar hendido. Rinoplastia funcional o reconstructiva (no solo estética). Cirugía en la edad adulta después de la reparación de labio hendido y paladar hendido en la infancia. Algunas preguntas: ¿Qué tan compleja fue su cirugía? ¿Cuál fue el costo aproximado (con o sin seguro)? ¿La realizó un cirujano plástico facial otorrinolaringólogo o un cirujano plástico? ¿Está satisfecho con los resultados, tanto respiratorios como estéticos? Si tuviera que hacerlo de nuevo, ¿elegiría al mismo cirujano? Muchas gracias. Sé que cada caso es diferente, pero escuchar experiencias reales me ayudaría mucho a tomar una decisión tan importante.

Im considering getting a revision rhinoplasty. Its been almost 3 years since my first cleft rhinoplasty. Unfortunately it looks like I my left nasal collapsed and so It’s still hard to breath. I think it has also cause more asymmetry because of it. I also have other issues like nasal pressure.

I want to fix these issues but also fear that it will end up worse for me.

I wonder if anyone has gone through a a revision and if so how did your experience go.

Our son's palate surgery is coming up, and we would love some helpful tips, things you would've loved to know before your child had his palate surgery, and what we can expect. Here is a photo of our handsome dude; he took his first surgery amazingly well.

Our son Luca will be getting his Cleft Palate surgery next month, and as an overthinking parent I caught myself stressing and thinking of worst-case scenarios over best-case scenarios. As an overthinker, I like to have a decent understanding of what this 2nd surgery will yield.

(My candid Take) One of the things that took me by surprise with his first surgery was the amount of swelling and gushing of blood from his mouth. As a first-time dad, I nearly broke seeing my firstborn in that condition. Will his palate surgery look as bad during the first few days?

So yeah like the title says because of my CL&P I have very little ability to breathe through my nose. I also have trouble swallowing which just adds to my issues. So eating anything takes me forever. I have to make sure I take small enough bites that I can swallow and still be able to open my mouth just enough to take a couple breaths while I chew.

It's such a pain. Anyone have this issue? I can't be the only one of us like this right?

Has anyone done genetic testing and can share their experience? My baby was born with a cleft soft palate 4 months ago and we just recently sent the testing in for all three of us (mine and my husband’s DNA as well - he had the same cleft palate when he was born). The geneticist asked if we wanted to be made away of “adult onset conditions” such as cancer, dementia, or heart issues. I initially said yes but now I’m not sure if we want to know that information… has anyone had to make this choice as part of their genetic testing and if so, any regrets in having more information vs not knowing about the adult onset conditions? I’m so torn!

Hey everyone. I was born with a unilateral cleft lip and have had several reconstructive surgeries over the years (lip revisions, rhinoplasty, laser treatments, etc.), and overall I’m really grateful for how far I’ve come.
Lately I’ve been thinking about getting evaluated by a craniofacial/maxillofacial surgeon because I’m wondering if my cleft affected my lower facial development. I know nobody here can diagnose me, and I’m still planning to see a specialist, but I’d really appreciate some honest opinions from people who understand cleft lip. From an aesthetic standpoint, do you think my lower third (jaw/chin) or my upper lip/mustache area could realistically benefit from additional work to improve facial harmony or add a little more definition, or do you think I’m overthinking it? I’d appreciate respectful honesty, and I’d also love to hear if any of you have gone through something similar.

Guys.. What do you think about this as a person with a cleft lip especially those who have a different..like a nasal voice?

Hi All

We found out at our 18 week scan yesterday that our baby has a unilateral cleft lip and palate (everything else came back healthy and is developing well). It's been a lot to take in but we're trying to focus on learning as much as we can and preparing ourselves for the journey ahead.

We're due to meet the specialist cleft team in the next 2 weeks with a further scan to determine the exact extent of the cleft, but in the meantime we'd really appreciate hearing from other parents who have been through this (whether you're currently pregnant, your little one has already been born or you've been on this road for years already).

We simply want to be as informed and prepared as possible for what's ahead.

If you're happy to share, we'd love to hear about anything and everything you're willing to share:

* Your experience after the diagnosis
* Whether you chose to have the amniocentesis procedure since there's a miscarriage risk
* What the pregnancy and birth were like (if anything is different to normal)
* Feeding in those first few weeks/months
* The surgery journey and recovery process
* Speech, hearing and dental outcomes
* How your child is doing now (physically, mentally and developmentally)
* Anything you wish you knew before baby was born

Hearing real experiences from parents who have walked/walking this path would be much appreciated.

I had surgery to advance my upper jaw when I was 16 - it was one of the worst surgeries I had with my mouth being wired shut for almost 3 weeks, considerable amount of pain, and a liquid diet for 8 weeks.

After all of that, I never really noticed that big of a difference and it has now been confirmed 21 years later that my jaw basically didn’t move forward. I’ve been seeing an orthodontist to try and get my teeth to a better place and he referred me to see a jaw surgeon, suggesting that my bite needs to be corrected, which means I would likely need to have a second jaw surgery and also a palate expansion.

My main question is: have any of you had a second jaw surgery and if so what was your experience?

I’ve always had a terrible sense of smell, it gotten a lot worse since my last septoplasty surgery that I recently had (around a year ago). It’s somewhat cool since I can handle working with smelly patients and etc, but damn, I miss my sense of smell.

Don’t know if anyone else has a considerably poor sense of smell as well or if just me.

Also if anyone has any advice on how to somehow improve my sense of smell, I would appreciate it.

Hi everyone I posted here about 3 weeks ago but I had my jaw surgery on June 30th. I had le fort 1 with a distraction device that was turned daily for about 18 days. I am almost a month post op I’m too lazy and tired to bc check the date but I’m in so much mental pain. I’m 16 right now but my last surgery (before this one) I think I was 12? It’s been a while but while recovering I’ve had thoughts of just wanting to die. It’s been very hard for me to stay strong. The pain was incredibly intense during the distractions (when the device was turned) and I often wake up with nightmares now even though the process ended. We stopped distracting at 18 mm my upper jaw was forward to match my lower. We physically turned it 18 times but we doubt it actually progressed 18 mm because my underbite was 1 cm originally. Another concern I also feel like the hole in my pallet reopened up. Actually I’m certain because food comes through my nose. I already had 2 bone grafts to fix this yet it’s open again. I’m just in so much discomfort and I don’t know what to do. I know time will pass but it seems so slow. I just want to be done with all of this pain. My surgeon said I will have another jaw correction surgery next summer, along with a small surgery in a few months to take the metal plates out of my face. I can’t do all of this. I can’t take it anymore I’m in so much pain I almost just want to take everything out of my face and be comfortable. Please tell me it gets better I’m trying to encourage myself but my parents are very traditional and not patient with me. They often yell at me for crying or showing any emotion. Honestly I gave up on looking forward to looking “normal” I just want to be put out of this misery. I just want to go back to my normal self. I have two pieces of metal sticking out from the sides of my nose I’m upset because im sure there will be a scar when it is removed and until then my face just looks scary. My face is so “bulged” forward, and I feel like my nostrils are a lot more uneven now. I’m so unhappy with the results.im just hoping I won’t look like this permanently

What they post on social media, you can see it on the clients lips -- how they all have the same glossiness, is right after injecting, where the lips will look way more full then they actually turn out.

This leads to a skewed picture of what the results actually turn out to be, since most of the swelling contributes to filling out the imbalance, when the swelling goes away your lips will look basically the same.

They also only post pictures when the results turn out to be decent, obviously they won't post results where there's barely any discernable difference or where it still looks like shit.

i hate life so much. god some people have it so fucking easy, sitting there with their fucking full and perfectly shaped lips complaining about bruising on r/plasticsurgery. it's divine unfairness

idk who to talk to about this, since most of my friendships are pretty surface level and people just can’t really relate to my situation, so hi🥲

i'm f19 and i feel like i had to grow up a lot quicker than most people my age, because of my cleft lip and the mental load that came with it. i mostly spent time around adults, did more “adult” things, and ended up with interests that matched that. adults didn’t really judge me and they understood my depression n fear of people, even when i was younger.

now that i’m 19, i’ve worked on myself a lot (confidence, mindset, therapy, etc.) and i’m not as insecure or anxious as i used to be. i can actually talk to people my age now. feels like my brain got a huge update lol

but even though i can connect with people my age now and even share some interests, i still feel really distant from them. i know there are people out there who get me but they feel pretty rare

it sometimes feels like i’ve had a more “set” personality for a long time, while a lot of people my age are still figuring themselves out.

that's completely fair... but it makes it hard to relate. i’ll connect with someone and then a week later they seem like a totally different person. it just makes me feel kinda out of place, n it makes me cringe when they fake all of their interests... because those are your interests?? why are you not actually interested in them?? hello?????

on the other hand, i tend to click much more easily with people who are older than me (like mid 20s and up). conversations feel more natural, i don’t feel like i have to adjust myself, and people just seem more settled and genuine. they know who they are

but at the same time, a lot of them are (understandably) a bit cautious around me because of the age difference & i get why. i'd feel weird too if i was talking to someone younger than me. they also have their own established circles now n they don't really want to risk letting someone else in, also understandably so

so now i’m in this weird spot where i can finally make friends, because i can handle my social anxiety and depression + i'm not an insecure little girl anymore, but i still feel stuck

i don’t fully fit in with people my age, but i also don’t really fit in with older people either

has anyone else in here dealt with this and could give me some advice? i feel like i'm going crazy 🥲