Cleft Lip Repair by a Systematic Z-Plasty

Abstract

In 1961 Malek described a technique for the closure of the cleft lip that used a single Z-plasty based on precise, mathematically determined measurements. This systematic method was used subsequently in more than 3000 cases of unilateral and bilateral cleft lip. More recently, these same principles have been applied to the development of a double Z-plasty technique that has become the authors’ procedure of choice in the majority of patients. They present the theoretical basis and clinical applications of these systematic Z-plasties for the primary treatment of cleft lip.