Zurich NGO to Set Up More Cleft Lip Surgery Centres in India

CCI is a non-profit foundation operating on children affected by cleft lip and palate. It is currently providing free surgical correction in five specialised medical centres in India and is planning to set up ten more such centres across the country.

Prof. Sailer was in Hyderabad recently to interact with doctors at a premier plastic surgery institute and where the CCI-assisted cleft lip surgeries are performed.

“Cleft” is used to describe any of the most common congenital oral-facial deformities. It is popularly referred to as “hare lip” or “hair lip.”

It appears around the lip or palate of a developing foetus during 4-8 weeks of pregnancy. In normal cases, during this time, the two halves of the lip and palate tissue fuse together to form a normal structure. But owing to various reasons, the tissue doesn't join properly, resulting in cleft.

Though definite causes of cleft lip still remained unclear, folic acid deficiency during pregnancy, consanguineous marriages and certain environmental and genetic factors were associated with cleft formation. Also it occurred more in boys than in girls.