Facial and oral malformations like cleft lip and cleft palate occur at the very early stage in pregnancy, while the baby is developing inside its mother. The cause for such craniofacial syndromes is due to tissue in the mouth or lip area, and the tissue that is available does not join together properly. Since the reason of cleft lip and cleft palate is unidentified in most cases, these conditions cannot be avoided. In common it is assumed that clefts are due to a combination of genetic and environmental factors and there has to be a better chance of craniofacial clefts in a newborn if a sibling, parent, or relative has had the problem.

A further impending reason may be related to a medication a mother may have taken during her pregnancy, maybe some drugs may cause isolated cleft lip and palate. Anti-seizure/anticonvulsant medications, acne medications containing Accutane, and methotrexate, a drug commonly used for treating cancer, arthritis, and psoriasis are some of the drugs that cause craniofacial syndromes. Isolated cleft lip and palate may also take place as a result of contact to viruses or chemicals while the fetus is developing in the womb.

A baby born with craniofacial syndromes often calls for quite a few various range of services that includes plastic and reconstructive surgery, dental/orthodontic care, and speech therapy, all of which need to be provided in a coordinated manner over a period of years. And this in line care is offered by interdisciplinary cleft palate/craniofacial teams encompass professionals from a variety of health care disciplines who work together on the child's total rehabilitation.

Generally the clefts are often identified to as unilateral or bilateral, a split on one side is unilateral, one split on each side is bilateral; and one more form of primary clefts is cleft lip/palate which refers to the condition when both the palate and lip are cleft.

Plastic and reconstructive surgery for craniofacial syndromes is concerned with the treatment of patients with rare and complex congenital and acquired conditions affecting the cranial, facial and orbital regions.

Treating craniofacial conditions

Usually the surgery for craniofacial syndromes is performed by a multidisciplinary approach in specific centers with inputs from Neurosurgeons, Neuro-radiologists, Facio-maxillary Surgeons and ENT surgeons. Not to mention that the plastic and reconstructive surgery is major, often extended and may require further surgeries as the face may continue to grow and develop till early adulthood.