A cleft lip procedure usually takes about anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours, depending on the severity of the cleft and the experience or speed of the surgeon. A cleft palate, if it’s a simple primary cleft palate can usually be done within about an hour. Most patients do undergo revisions for velopharyngeal insufficiency or other types of problems or fistulas afterwards. And the timing and duration of those really depends on the severity of the problem. There no significant risk to doing these procedures as long as they’re done at the right time for the child, with a pediatric anesthesiologist who knows how to treat these patients well. Following surgery for cleft lip and palate, there’s a very, very low risk that you would have any infection. The face overall is very well vascularized and it is very uncommon to have infections.