Answer:
Most commonly, surgery is performed at about 3 months of age because the size of the lip and nasal tissues is adequate to facilitate the surgical reconstruction. The relationship of the bony skeleton is also important. If the alveolar and hard palate cleft is associated with distortion of the maxillary components, orthopedic manipulation is recommended. If no presurgical orthdontics are available, molding of the premaxilla can be accomplished by taping across the lip or performing a lip adhesion. The timing varies between institutions, but commonly the lip adhesion is performed at 6 weeks and the definitive cleft lip repair at 6 months.