Effects of lip revision surgery on long-term orosensory function in patients with cleft lip/palate

Objective: To determine whether secondary lip revision surgery impacts sensitivity of the upper lip. Design: A three-group, parallel, prospective, nonrandomized clinical trial. Setting: University of North Carolina School of Dentistry. Patients, Participants: Three groups: (1) patients with repaired cleft lip/palate who were scheduled for lip revision (revision; N=20); (2) patients with repaired cleft lip/palate who did not receive a lip revision (non-revision; N=13); and (3) non-cleft control subjects (non-cleft; N=22). Interventions: Lip revision surgery. Main Outcome Measures: Measures of (1) two-point perception threshold (two-point), (2) warmth detection threshold (warm), and (3) cool detection threshold (cool) were obtained from two sites on the upper lip vermilion. The revision participants were tested approximately 1 week before surgery and then approximately 3 and 12 months after surgery. The non-revision and noncleft participants were tested at similar times. Results: There were no significant differences among the three groups at baseline for twopoint, warm, or cool. The main effects of group, age, sex, and time were not statistically significant for the two-point or warm (p > 05). The mean differences between the 3- and 12- month follow-up visits and baseline for two-point and warm were small for all three groups. For cool, group was statistically significant (p = .04), the difference in the non-revision group between follow-up and baseline was 31% to 34% higher than in the non-cleft group (p = .01). Conclusions: Although at postsurgery revision participants exhibited threshold values comparable to presurgical values, the sensory differences observed among subgroups of participants with cleft lip are complex.