Gustav Simon’s Band and the Evolution of Labial Adhesion

Abstract

"Simonart's band" is an eponymic misnomer. In the mid-19th century, Pierre-Joseph Simonart described congenital bands in the limb, not in the lip. Shortly thereafter, Gustav Simon reported preliminary closure of bilateral cleft lip and thus deserves credit for labial adhesion (Simon's band). Labial adhesion was rediscovered 100 years later; however, with increasing use of infant-dentofacial orthopedics, its popularity has declined in many centers. The authors continue to use this procedure before formal repair of unilateral complete cleft lip/palate, unilateral complete cleft lip and alveolus, severe unilateral incomplete cleft lip, and bilateral asymmetrical cleft lip (on the complete side). Bilateral labial adhesion may also have a preparatory role in double cleft lip whenever dentofacial orthopedic manipulation is unavailable or unsuccessful.