Interorbital distance in cleft lip and palate

Abstract

AbstractThe bony interorbital distance (BIOD), as a measure of orbital hypertelorism, was determined for 285 children representing the major categories of cleft lip and/or cleft palate. The BIOD was measured on longitudinal postero‐anterior roentgencephalograms from 6 months to 16 years. There were no significant differences in BIOD between the males and females with complete unilateral and complete bilateral cleft lip and palate or between the combined cleft samples. The BIOD was increased more in those with cleft lip and cleft lip‐cleft palate than in those with only cleft palate. Although patients with clefts had an increased BIOD, in most cases the increase did not exceed 1 SD of that reported for a control group. In unoperated infants no association was found between increased BIOD and the width of the cleft or palate at the level of the maxillary tuberosities. This finding suggested that the BIOD may reflect abnormal development in the nasofrontal process, which also affects the lip but does not include the palatal shelves. Finally, it is suggested that the BIOD is a relevant developmental variable with a threshold character in the etiopathogenesis of cleft lip and cleft lip‐cleft palate.