Primary surgery of the prolabium in bilateral cleft lip and palate--a comparative study of two methods.

In children with bilateral cleft lip and palate the short prolabium may cause problems during primary lip closure. The prolabium can be used as a lip structure to its full length or it can be partly or totally slid up into the columella. By comparing two groups of children differently treated, we have found that the prolabium as a lip structure should be used to its full length as a central element in primary lip repair, otherwise an excessively long upper lip with unusual scarring of the central portion is the result.