Recovery

The recovery time after a surgery for cleft lip and palate is rapid in some patients. The cleft lip where you can have them, actually I’m sucking on a straw usually within that first week pretty easily. When it’s a combination procedure, the cleft is deeper in, we have to leave little tubes in the nose. It makes it a little bit more difficult for the child. A cleft palate, the problem becomes the pain. They’re in a lot of pain that first couple of days, especially if they’re older patients, they notice it a little bit more. Still you can assume that within the first couple of weeks, patients are recovering well and are starting to eat fine again.