Median and Paramedian Craniofacial Cleft

Baek, Rong Min; Kim, Yong Kyu

Abstract

Craniofacial clefts are rare, mysterious and variable congenital anomalies. The incidence of craniofacial clefts is at least 1 per 100,000 live births. The cause of craniofacial clefts remains obscure, and attempts to classip craniofacial clefts are replete with problems. Tessier presented his classification in 1973 and used the orbit to distinguish the facial clefts from the cranial clefts. He noted that those lesions that involve both the face and cranium tend to do so in a consistent, predictable fashion. The clefts are numbered from 0 to 14 and are oriented around the orbit like spokes of a wheel. Van der Meulen proposed a classification in 1983 on an embryologic basis. The term dysplasia was used instead of cleft, since some of the malformations do not represent true clefts. Between 1997 to 1998, authors experienced 3 cases of median and paramedian facial cleft. One was No.2 facial cleft and the others were No.0-14 facial cleft with orbital hypertelorism. Their ages ranged from 1 to 5 years.