Cleft lip is formed in the top of the lip as either a small gap or an indentation in the lip (partial or incomplete cleft) or it continues into the nose (complete cleft).

The depressor labii inferioris (or quadratus labii inferioris) is a facial muscle that helps lower the bottom lip.

Approximately 1 in 700 children born have a cleft lip or a cleft palate or both.

It is available as creams, ointment or pastes in 0.1 to 2 strengths (Drithocreme, Dithrocream, Zithranol RR, Micanol, Psorlin, Dritho Scalp, Anthraforte, Anthranol and Anthrascalp).

An example for how environmental factors might be linked to genetics comes from research on mutations in the gene PHF8 that cause cleft lip palate (see above).

Treatment Cleft lip and palate is very treatable however, the kind of treatment depends on the type and severity of the cleft.

It had already spread to his lymph nodes, so we used an antiangiogenic skin cream for the lip and an oral cocktail, so we could treat from the inside as well as the outside.

The catalytic activity of PHF8 depends on molecular oxygen, a fact considered important with respect to reports on increased incidence of cleft lip palate in mice that have been exposed to hypoxia early during pregnancy.

In 1873, one of the first papers in modern medicine on the subject tried to explain the pathophysiology of the disease while one in 1872, concluded that asthma can be cured by rubbing the chest with chloroform liniment.