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Secondary deformities can exist after repair of cleft lip by sophisticated method of primary cheiloplasty and can affect some or all of the previously cleft regions. There may be lip scar, nasal deformity, vermilion deficiency, and maxillary hypoplasia. The correction of secondary cleft deformities is difficult and requires efforts of a multidisciplinary team. There are many operative techniques for correction of the vermilion deficiency, for example double V-Y advancement mucosal flap or double pendulum flap etc. But, these methods are very complex and can remained the scar on vermilion. Twenty six patients of secondary cleft lip and nose deformity with vermilion deficiency were operated in our department from January 1999 to June 2002. The secondary cleft lip and nose deformity was corrected by various operative methods, and the vermilion deficiency corrected by using acellular human dermis(AlloDerm(R), Life Cell Corp., Woodlands, Texas). The three cases suspected for AlloDerm(R) to be absorbed showed that the augmentation of vermilion was poor but another cases showed satisfactory result with good augmentation of vermilion and minimal scar. In conclusion, vermilion augmentation using AlloDerm(R) has the several advantages such as simplicity, shorter operation time, and effectiveness compared with other surgical methods.
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