Le Fort I in cleft patients: 20 years' experience.

Primary surgery for cleft lip, alveolus, and palate is only the beginning of management for this condition, because the congenital malformation and the scars of corrective surgery during infancy affect the physiological development of the skeleton and the soft tissue. Once the patient has stopped growing, therefore, secondary maxillomandibular malformation is frequent in these patients. The most frequent skeletal malformations in secondary cleft lip and palate are hypoplasia and malposition in the three planes of the superior maxilla space.