Post-cleft lip surgery care

The care after cleft lip surgery is also worthy of attention. Since the patients are all children, they will definitely cry because of the pain after the operation. The wound is on the lip, so it is easy for the wound to split and cause secondary injury. Moreover, if the wound does not heal well, in addition to leaving ugly scars, it may also cause infection, which makes it difficult to heal. The following estimation methods can be used for understanding.

1. Postoperative feeding should be given enough attention first. Children who have undergone cleft lip surgery often cry frequently due to hunger caused by the long fasting time after the surgery and pain and discomfort caused by the surgical trauma. If this cannot be controlled in time, some postoperative reactions such as fever are likely to occur. At the same time, due to the violent movement of the lips and palate, the wound pressure increases, increasing the risk of bleeding, rupture, perforation, infection and postoperative scars. Therefore, it is important to calm the child down by feeding him/her on time and in fixed amounts.

2. After discharge, the patient is allowed to eat normally, with no restrictions on bottle feeding or breast milk. Just be careful not to let your breasts rub the wound during breastfeeding. You can put a piece of baby tape on your lips before breastfeeding to avoid rubbing the wound. The baby has just undergone surgery and has low resistance. Keep the living environment clean and ventilated, add or remove clothes as appropriate to prevent the baby from catching a cold or fever. If diarrhea, cough, fever and other discomforts occur, go to the hospital for diagnosis and treatment in time.

3. The stitches will be removed 7 days after cleft lip surgery. If the patient is discharged from the hospital with stitches intact, absorbable sutures will be used. This type of suture will generally be gradually absorbed and fall off over a period of time. If it has not completely fallen off after 1 month, ask your doctor to remove it during your follow-up visit. The mouth and wound should be kept clean after surgery, and the mouth should be rinsed with warm boiled water after eating. You can wash your face normally 2 weeks after the surgery. Avoid collision and scratching of the wound. If necessary, use a hand support (elbow brake) to appropriately limit the child's arm movement. Try to reduce the child's crying to prevent the surface wound tension from increasing and affecting wound healing.

4. Do not get vaccinations within 2 weeks after surgery. Because there are sutures in the muscle layer, some children may have a rejection reaction to the sutures in the muscle layer. If local wound redness, swelling, pus discharge, ulceration, etc. occur, please return to the hospital for treatment in time. You can start using silicone scar patches the day after the stitches are removed to control scar hyperplasia. It is usually used for 3 months after surgery.

5. Persistently wearing a nose mold is a necessary means to correct and stabilize the correction effect of cleft lip nasal deformity. After primary cleft lip repair surgery, a silicone nasal mask should be worn all day. In principle, the longer the nasal mask is used, the better, generally at least 1 year. When the baby first wears it, he will feel uncomfortable and cry, and he needs a period of adaptation.