ABSTRACT
Objectives: The objective is to know the extent of agreement of clinicians' perception of nasolabial
esthetic compared to that of laypeople (parents). Materials and Methods: This was a prospective study of comparison of clinician's perception of nasolabial
esthetics with that of laypeople following surgical repair of UCL. Participants were
recruited from the Cleft Clinic of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, and surgical
repair of the cleft was performed under general anesthesia. Surgical evaluation was
done through direct clinical evaluation using the modified form of the Christofides'
criteria by laypeople and professionals. Results: A total of 48 cleft participants were enrolled in the study. The evaluation of the
lip by both the laypeople and professionals was similar, and there was no difference
(0.588) in their rating. However, there was a significant disagreement (P = 0.001) between them in the nose assessment. Conclusion: Neither the solitary opinion of the professionals nor that of the laypeople is satisfactory
in the evaluation of facial esthetics; both are equally important, especially in the
assessment of nasal esthetics. However, opinion of either the laypeople or the professional
might be enough in the evaluation of the lip esthetics.
Key words:
Evaluation - laypeople - professionals - unilateral cleft lip and palate