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A report is given of 47 patients with submucous cleft palate operated on during the period 1965 to 1974. The average age of the patients when referred for surgery was high (10.8 years). Eleven patients, or nearly one out of four, had tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy performed before the correct diagnosis was made. Sixteen of the patients had a history of recurrent middle ear disease, and 18 patients had another congenital anomaly, the most frequent one being a cleft of the primary palate. Nineteen patients were operated upon with a von Langenbeck palatorraphy, and 28 with a von Langenbeck procedure + a superiorly based pharyngeal flap. Three of the patients were operated on twice. The result with regard to velopharyngeal function was recorded as good in 34 cases, fair in 10, and poor in 3 cases. The results were better in patients operated upon under the age of 7 years. The operative procedures now recommended are: A von Langenbeck (or push-back) closure of the palate combined with a levator sling reconstruction and a superiorly based pharyngeal flap. The possibility for an optimal result is best when the operation is performed at an early age, i.e. as soon as a diagnosis of SMCP and velopharyngeal incompetence has been made. For this reason it is important that better information about the symptoms and signs of SMCP is given to doctors, dentists and speech therapists, who refer these patients to the cleft palate clinic.

Trophic ulceration of the nose is a rare complication occurring in patients with trigeminal anaesthesia. The etiology is not clear, but self-inflicted injuries to an anaesthetic region are considered to play an important part. The authors' experience with three cases indicates that substitution with skin from the affected area of the face will not give a lasting result. It seems probable that only skin with an intact nerve supply can provide a permanent replacement for skin lost in the dystrophic process. This means that a local flap innervated from a non-affected part of the face would offer the best possibility of a permanent cover for these defects.

All patients with bilateral complete clefts of the lip and some patients with incomplete clefts have a short or almost non-existing columella. This is a characteristic deformity which can only be corrected by surgical lengthening of the columella. Among the numerous methods which have been used for this purpose, the forked falp method as described by Millard (1958) has certain advantages: 1. Sufficient donor tissue is available in the lateral parts of the prolabium to produce full lengthening of the columella and adequate projection of the tip of the nose. 2. Most patients with bilateral clefts need secondary correction of the lip scars and a narrowing of the nostrils after the primary operation. Both of these objectives are achieved as a part of the forked flap procedure. 3. Access is gained both to the lip muscles and to the alar cartilages at the tip of the nose. 4. Narrowing of the lip in the upper part results in a natural eversion of the lower part, and a short lip can be lengthened by letting the remaining central part of the prolabium go down during suturing. 5. The scars left in the upper lip are in an unobtrusive position corresponding to the philtral ridges. During the period 1965-77, 87 patients with bilateral cleft lip have had a columella lengthening performed according to the forked flap method. Our experience with this method has been very favourable. No serious complications have ensued, and the cosmetic results have been most satisfactory in the majority of cases.