Cleft lip patients can now smile again
A child with a cleft lip at Mulago Hospital. photo by Flavia Lanyero
When a medical camp to repair cleft lips opened at Mulago hospital two weeks ago, Janet Anyango was one of the parents in attendance. She had brought her four-year old daughter for the free surgery.
Anyango’s daughter was born with a cleft palate, which is a hole in the upper part of the mouth. She has lived with the condition right from birth. “When she eats, some of the food comes out through the nose. Sometimes she cries when a lot of food comes out of her nose,” Anyango explained.
Previously, she had taken her daughter to Mbale hospital, but was told to return when the girl was four years old. Now thanks to her area Member of Parliament, Fox Odoi, many children who have cleft lips were ferried from their village to Mulago Hospital for free surgery.In another case, 74-year old Agnes Namwenge, had lived with a cleft lip for her entire life, yet she had never sought treatment.
She says she did not hear or know of any treatment services. This, to her is the best chance to have her lip repaired. A cleft lip is an opening that develops on the lips, but can also develop in what is known as the upper roof of the mouth. Dr Rose Alenyo, a consultant plastic surgeon at Mulago Hospital, says an individual can also have all forms of cleft. She also says that when a cleft is identified, it is likely that other organs like the heart may also have a defect.
“If it involves the lips then it affects the facial appearance. If it is the palate, then it affects feeding with nutritional implications because the food gets out through the nose before it gets into the stomach,” says Dr Alenyo.
“It also affects development and growth of the teeth and its alignment,”she adds. Like many congenital abnormalities, cleft palates occur during the first four weeks of feotus development. According to Dr Alenyo, cleft lips develop when the face, which forms in halves, fails to completely fuse leaving some gaps.“The condition is sometimes inherited and if it runs in one’s family one needs counselling before a baby is born.
The other cause is lack of folic acid in the initial stages of pregnancy,” Dr Alenyo says. Dr Christine Atuhaire, another plastic surgeon explained that cleft lips and palate is one of the conditions that affects our communities to a large extent.
